Silent Dangers
by Duette Maxwell
Summary: The members of IR recieve a call from a resort town that will make their nightmares seem like a sweet dream... This is rated M for disturbing scenarios and some language. CHPT 13 IS up
1. Static Calls

A/N: This story is rated R because, like the game it's based on, it may contain descriptions of some very disturbing images. If you are weak of heart when it comes to horror, the supernatural, gore, or anything else out of the ordinary, I suggest you read this with the lights on, the radio playing, and with a friend close by. Well... Maybe just the radio...  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Alan lay down on the little bed in his closet-like room on Thunderbird 5 and stared at the ceiling. His turn on the communications space station had just started and he was already bored. Ever since his last rotation, two months ago, there hadn't been any calls. Everyone in International Rescue thought this was a little odd since a really bad set of tornadoes ripped through much of the southern US last month.  
  
Alan sighed and turned to look out his window at the stars. He began to imagine that he and Tin-Tin were out on the beach on the island. He smiled and closed his eyes to get a better picture. Just as he was starting to drift off into this wonderful dream world, he thought he heard a voice coming from the communications equipment. With a groan, he got up and went to check it out.  
  
"Help... Everywhere..." the voice said through a bunch of static.  
  
"This is International Rescue. How can we help you?" Alan responded.  
  
"...Gone. No one... Please help..." the voice said. Alan tried to tune the frequency better, but nothing worked.  
  
"Where are you? Can you hear me?" Alan asked.  
  
"Yes... Hill... Dark..."  
  
"What hill? Where are you?"  
  
"...Silent..."  
  
Just then the static got even worse and the high-pitched sound of someone trying to tune a radio came through. Alan set to work tracing the signal. He was about to try and ask the caller for more information when a sudden scream filled the station, then died.  
  
"Thunderbird 5 to base! Thunderbird 5 to base! Come in base!"  
  
"Go ahead, Alan," Jeff said as he sipped his morning cup of coffee.  
  
"We've got a rescue, dad. The person that radioed in sounded in bad shape."  
  
"Do you have the coordinates?"  
  
"Yes, sir. They're latitude XR569 by longitude 1275S-B3, a place called Silent Hill."  
  
Gordon, who was in the lounge reading, looked up the coordinates. "Gee, that's a pretty lonely place."  
  
"Do you know what kind of rescue this is?" Jeff asked.  
  
"No, father. The signal died before I could get any information," Alan said.  
  
"All right. Scott..."  
  
"I'm on it father," Scott said as he came into the lounge and headed straight for the revolving wall panel that lead into Thunderbird 1's hangar.  
  
"Virgil. You'll probably have to take Pod 5, but make sure you have a little something for all scenarios. We don't know what could be happening there. Also, take John and Gordon with you. I would rather there be too much man power than not enough."  
  
Virgil nodded and headed for the secret slide that would take him to Thunderbird 2's cockpit while Gordon went to the hidden passenger elevator and waited for John before heading down. In no time Thunderbird 1 was off with Thunderbird 2 not far behind.  
  
****  
  
Two hours later, Scott called in to base to let them know he had arrived safely. He then called Virgil, and after finding out his estimated time of arrival, decided to head out side and find a good place to set up mobile control.   
  
Opening the hatch to go out, he saw that it was starting to snow, and pulled on the heavy coat he always had on hand, before heading down. As he reached the end of the ramp and looked around he shivered, but not from the cold. The fog and the snow made it hard to see farther than a few feet, and it was oddly quiet. With chills running up and down his spine, Scott decided to head back inside and wait for Virgil and the others to arrive before unloading anything. He took one last look before closing the hatch and shivered again. Whatever it was, he didn't want to have to face it alone.   
  
****  
  
Scott awoke from his short nap at the sound of Thunderbird 2's engines and the sound of Virgil's voice.  
  
"Hey Scott, how's it look?" Virgil asked as he landed.  
  
"It's kinda hard to tell. I'll need you guys' help with mobile control."  
  
"F.A.B.," Virgil said and all went quiet again.  
  
Scott got up from his seat, opened the hatch, and waited until he saw Virgil and Gordon before bringing out the boxes for mobile control.  
  
"Hey, where's John?" Scott asked as he handed Virgil a box.  
  
"He went on ahead to try and find out what's going on," Gordon said heading up.  
  
"Guys, I hate to break up this little party, but I suggest we hurry up and get this thing out and set up. The faster we can get this rescue done, the faster we can return home. This place gives me the creeps," Virgil said. Scott and Gordon both nodded and went back to work. 


	2. Fog Creatures

John walked away from the hulking green mass known as Thunderbird 2 and headed down the street. Almost immediately he began to regret this decision. The fog around him started getting thicker as snow started falling in bigger and bigger flakes. 'Well, it's too late to turn back now...' he thought as he looked back, and continued pressing forward.  
  
John walked for what seemed like hours, blinded by the fog and the snow, when it finally let up enough to see a few feet in front of him. What he saw made him stop dead in his tracks. There was a dog up ahead. He could barely make it out from the still thick fog and falling snow, but something in the back of his mind told him he didn't want to see it any closer. He stood perfectly still, not wanting to draw attention to himself as the dog walked around slowly, sniffing the ground as it went. When it finally walked out of sight John let out a sigh of relief and continued on, his hand over his gun, and more watchful.  
  
****  
  
Scott, Gordon, and Virgil worked hard and had mobile control up in almost record time. After a quick check of equipment and calling in to base, the boys stood around mobile control, looking at each other.  
  
"I hope John's all right," Gordon said, looking into the fog.  
  
"Yeah..." Scott said.  
  
"Maybe we should go find him. This weather is deteriorating fast and if I'm not mistaking, it's getting darker," Virgil said.  
  
"What about mobile control and the Thunderbirds?" Scott asked, looking back at Thunderbird 1.  
  
"Lock them up and turn on the alarms, of course!" Gordon said in that cheery tone he always had when things looked bad.  
  
Scott looked at Virgil who was smiling and shaking his head. "He's right, you know," Scott said and Virgil just nodded, trying not to laugh.  
  
****  
  
John kept going until he saw a sign for Annie's Bar. He walked up and looked in the windows, but didn't see anyone.  
  
'It's the weather keeping everyone at home. It's gotta be,' John thought and went inside. He looked around then went up to the counter. As he checked behind the bar for signs of life, his eyes fell upon a dark red streak heading back towards the kitchen. Curious, he jumped over the counter and followed it. He was appalled by what he saw.  
  
Dishes were piled high both beside and in the sink. An orange-red grime seemed to cover everything. Upon closer inspection he found that the grime was a mix of rust and blood. By the looks of it, the rust had been there for a while, but the blood was still pretty fresh. John shuddered slightly and finished looking around before finally leaving.  
  
'I should probably radio in and let the guys know I'm all right,' John thought, looking into the fog again. He turned on his watch communicator and tried to contact the others, but got only silence. He tapped the watch then held it up to his ear to make sure it was working. Shrugging, he decided to try one more time.  
  
"John to mobile control. Come in mobile control," he said. When no one answered, John sighed and looked around. He wasn't exactly sure of the direction he came from, and after seeing that dog, he wasn't sure if he should try and brave the fog to get back to the Thunderbirds, but at least there he knew his brothers would eventually show up. Taking a deep breath, John decided to head back to the Thunderbirds.  
  
He had walked only a short ways when he started hearing static coming from his communicator.  
  
"Scott? Is that you Scott? Gordon? Virgil? Are you guys getting me?" John asked only to be met with more static.   
  
He started walking again and the static began to increase and started to sound thick, like someone was trying to speak through the static. John started walking faster and trying to get an answer through the static when he heard something coming from his left. Turning, he avoided just in time, the large bird that swooped out of the fog.   
  
He watched as it disappeared into the fog and was about to sigh in relief when he saw its shadow turn around and head right back for him. With little hesitation, John pulled out his gun and shot the bird. It faltered slightly, but kept on its course. He shot it a second and third time before it was too injured to fly anymore. Curiosity getting the better of him, John walked up to the strange looking bird. As he got closer to the injured bird, it started crawling and snapping at him. Without a second thought, John shot it in the head. As it lay there bleeding he took a closer look at it.   
  
It looked like a strange version of a pterodactyl. It was as big as a turkey only it was all skin, tendons, and a strange reddish-brown goop that had settled in the crevices in between the bones and tendons. The face was a gnarled mass of scabbed over flesh covering the eyes and the beak. John kicked its head and noticed that it had rows of teeth that looked razor sharp. It had three claws on its wingtips and its feet that looked like curved daggers.   
  
John turned the bird over with his foot and just stared in shock. The three shots he had made had pierced through where the lungs and heart should be, yet it took a bullet to the head to kill it. John looked around, checked his gun then took off as fast as he could in the direction he thought the Thunderbirds, and his brothers, were. He didn't know what was going on in Silent Hill, but after killing that zombie like bird, he decided he didn't want to know.  
  
****  
  
Virgil and Scott both locked up their Thunderbirds and met up with Gordon who was sitting on the cold wet grass, weeding out the small area around him.  
  
"Having fun, Gordo?" Virgil asked as he walked up to him.  
  
"No. I'm worried about John. He should have contacted us by now," Gordon said looking up at him.  
  
"That's why we're going to look for him. Now come on, get up. The sooner we start searching, the sooner we can find him and possibly the people needing rescue," Scott said holding out his hand and helping Gordon up.  
  
"Hang on a sec guys. Let's see if we can call him on our communicators first. Maybe he just got busy and forgot to call in," Gordon said. The others nodded and waited as Gordon tried his communicator. After several failed attempts, Gordon shrugged. "Guess he's busy with the rescue."  
  
"Or something's happened to him, either way, we need to find him. This weather is getting worse and I don't want to be outside when it gets dark out," Virgil said.  
  
"All right, let's go then. I don't think the street lights will make very good night lights for Virgil when it does get dark," Gordon said, receiving a glare and a punch in the arm from Virgil and a chuckle from Scott. Together they started off cautiously into the fog. 


	3. Shadows In The Fog

Scott, Gordon, and Virgil made their way across the street and found themselves in front a building that had an old neon sign flickering "Haerbey Inn."   
  
"Let's go inside and ask if anyone's seen John," Gordon said in his usual cheery tone. Virgil and Scott just nodded and walked in.  
  
It was eerily quiet inside the office of the inn. No one was behind the counter, and after ringing the service bell for several minutes, Gordon gave up and sat down on one of the old sofas along the wall. Virgil and Scott looked around. They noticed that even though the lights seemed to be working, other things, like the TV ad radio in the room, didn't seem to work at all. The small TV only showed static while the radio only hummed the low pitch of a station that is just out of range for the antenna. After a thorough examination of the rooms connected to the office, and finding nothing, the boys walked outside into the parking lot.  
  
There were two cars, a motorcycle, and a pickup truck sitting in the parking lot in front of rooms for the inn. The plates were all from out of state and the truck's hood was still warm, which meant that the owner hadn't been here for very long and should still be around. After a brief discussion, the boys split up and went to check the eight rooms, promising to meet back in the parking lot once they were through, or after thirty minutes, which ever came first.  
  
*******  
  
John continued to run for several minutes before having to stop and catch his breath. He looked around him, and except for the road, he couldn't see anything through the fog and snow. After a few minutes he started walking, his gun in his still trembling hands, the image of that strange bird creature still in the front of his mind. He kept trying to figure out what it was and how it may have gotten here. He was so wrapped up in thought, he didn't see the curb in front of him and tripped, falling to the cold, wet ground. Getting up and brushing himself off, he looked around.   
  
Nothing looked familiar. He didn't remember seeing a sidewalk or trees anywhere near the Thunderbird craft. He sat on the curb and sighed in frustration. Here he was, in a town with fog thicker than molasses, snowflakes as big as peas, strange birds from hell, and nothing familiar in sight. He tried contacting his brothers again, but still got nothing out of his communicator. He hung his head and tried to think of something, when he heard the static start up on his communicator again. Looking up, gun ready, John waited.   
  
Before long he could see something moving in the fog. It wasn't a bird, that much he was sure of. This thing was walking on the ground. As it came closer, he could begin to make out the shape of the strange dog he had seen. It had the muscular build of a doberman, but it was thin like a greyhound. John tensed up even more as he realized it was heading straight towards him, the static on his watch communicator becoming even thicker. Holding his breath and hoping for the best, John stood absolutely still, or as still as he could be from all the shaking.   
  
The dog slowly made its way towards John, then suddenly turned and seemed to head away from him. John let out a long slow sigh, but noticed that the static was still thick. Then, without warning, he felt something hit him hard from behind. He cried out in pain as he felt something sharp dig in to his back and tried to throw the thing off. When he finally succeeded, he saw that it was the dog that had just left. The dog got up slowly, snarling, and lunged for John again. John aimed for the dog's neck and shot it twice before it fell. Keeping his gun trained on the dog's head, John looked it over.   
  
It was exactly like he had thought it was. It was muscular, yet thin, and looked like something had peeled its skin off. He watch in sick fascination as the muscles and tendons quivered and flexed as the dog tried to move. John knelt down and noticed that chunks of the dog were missing as well, as if the thing that took its skin, also took a bite, or two out of it. Shuddering, John started to walk away, when he heard it barking. It was a strange, almost gurgled barked, and John noticed that blood, or what appeared to be blood, spurted from the two wounds in the dog's neck. Feeling almost sorry for it, John shot the dog in the head, taking two shots to kill it. He knelt down beside it and patted the dog's shoulder, instantly regretting it.   
  
The muscle felt like muscle, smooth yet rippled in bundles, but it was, John found out, surprisingly slimy, like it was covered in a layer of clear mucus. As he pulled his hand away, he groaned in disgust as a trail of the slimy substance followed. He tried to shake off as much as possible before going over to the grass and wiping off most of the rest of it. He sat back down on the curb, looked back at the dog, and frowned. He didn't know how much time he had before something would come to investigate the gun shots and the barking, but he wasn't sure what he should do or where he should go. Staying here was definitely out of the picture, which meant all he could do was get up and start wandering the fog enshrouded town until he found his brothers, the Thunderbirds, or someone to help him find both.   
  
******  
  
Scott and Gordon finished checking the rooms they had picked and waited outside for Virgil to finish checking his. He still had about ten minutes before the time limit they set was up, but the boys outside felt uncomfortable at their brother's longer absence. They waited five minutes before checking the rooms Virgil had gone to check. They found him in room 5, standing out a back door to the room, staring at something in the fog. Gordon and Scott looked at each other, then Scott walked over.  
  
"You all right Virg?" Scott asked, placing a hand on Virgil's shoulder.  
  
"You guys didn't hear it?" Virgil asked, looking back.  
  
"Hear what?" Gordon asked.  
  
"I thought I heard gun shots. They sounded pretty far away, but I swear I could still hear them."  
  
"What were you doing going out the back door?" Scott asked.  
  
"Oh yeah I thought I saw something in the pool," Virgil pointed at the fog which seemed to hang just above the small pool in the courtyard of the inn. "I was going to investigate."  
  
"Well, let's investigate together. I'm getting a REALLY bad feeling about this place and the last thing we need is to lose another brother," Gordon said, Scott and Virgil just nodded in agreement.  
  
Together they headed out the back door and up the small cement steps into the fenced in pool area. They walked up to the edge of the pool and looked across it. Even though the fog didn't settle on the water, it still made it hard to see very far. Walking around the side of the pool, they didn't make it very far before Virgil started stripping off his clothes, down to his pants, and took a flying leap into the water. Scott and Gordon ran around the edge to try and get a better look at what Virgil was doing. It was a few minutes before they could see him clearly and that he was dragging a body with him. With the help of Scott and Gordon, Virgil was able to drag the young woman he had found, up onto the concrete.   
  
Virgil jumped up and immediately started CPR. Scott and Gordon waited as Virgil tried to revive the poor woman. After the sixth try, Scott asked Virgil to stop, saying it wasn't going to help, but Virgil kept going. Virgil kept performing CPR, and on the eleventh try, he found arms around his neck, pulling him into the deepest kiss he had had in a long while. After several minutes of this, Virgil reluctantly broke the kiss and looked at the woman.  
  
"Thanks," she whispered, smiling up at him.  
  
"You're, uh, welcome," Virgil managed to get out before blushing as his brothers started their teasing.  
  
*****  
  
"Base to Thunderbird 5. Come in Alan."  
  
"I'm here, father."  
  
"Any word yet from the boys?" Jeff asked to the live feed of Alan in the lounge of their island villa.  
  
"No. All I'm getting is silence on their frequency," Alan said, a look of worry clearly visible on his baby-ish face.  
  
"Brains, what do you think may be wrong with their communicators?" Jeff asked the genius engineer of the organization.  
  
"W-w-well I'm not sure. They aren't near any m-mountains, and I just checked their communicators a couple of days ago, so I know they are working. P-p-perhaps they may have turned them off so they could concentrate on the rescue," Brains said from his seat on the large black leather couch in the room.  
  
"Perhaps. They have done that before. I hope that that is all and that they'll contact us soon," Jeff said, looking up at the portraits of his boys, sadness, fear, and worry etched across his face.  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------  
Notes: I don't own the twisted creation of Silent Hill, nor its creatures, Konami does. Nor do I own Thunderbirds, Carlton does. This story has things based off of the first Silent Hill. Small changes and additions to places and occurences all come from my twisted mind. If anyone has a problem with my story, as far as the continuity between it and the game, just remember: MY twisted mind. MY twisted story. You go write your own and quit trying to put down mine. 


	4. Secrets of the Silence

Virgil helped the young woman up and stood back with his brothers who were admiring her beauty. She looked pretty average in every way, but somehow, between that and the fog, the brothers found that she looked very attractive.  
  
"Thank you, again, for saving me," she said as she wrung out some of the water from her hair.  
  
"What happened?" Gordon asked, pulling himself out of his staring.  
  
"I don't know exactly. I've only been here a few hours. I came out to go swimming for a little bit and to relax before I got to work, and I was about to jump in when somebody pushed me. I don't remember anything after that."  
  
"Weird," was all Gordon said, looking back at the pool.  
  
"If you wouldn't mind my asking, what's your name and what work were you doing?" Scott asked.  
  
"Oh! How rude of me! My name is Samantha Grey, but you can just call me Sam. I came out here researching the rumors of a strange cult that supposedly started here in Silent Hill."  
  
"What kind of cult?" Virgil asked, looking at his brothers.  
  
"I'm not sure exactly. Some of the rumors say that it's a satanic cult, but there's been documentation that even the most hideous of the satanic cults can't even hold a candle to the kind of hell this cult has been able to stir up."  
  
"What do you mean?" Scott asked, starting to feel even more uncomfortable.  
  
"Well, I'm sure you've heard about the occasional sacrifice of animals by the other cults on the news, right?" The boys nodded and she continued. "Well, the guys of this cult don't only sacrifice animals. They sacrifice people. The young, old, men, women... They used whomever whenever. There were reports that the people of this town not only willingly gave themselves up for the sacrifices, but that for some of the ceremonies they would also eat the people they sacrificed."  
  
At this, Gordon began to look a little green. "You're kidding, right?" Virgil said, noticing Gordon's reaction.  
  
"Well, about the cannibalism, perhaps. No one knows for sure if they really did that or not, but the human sacrifices I'm not kidding about. There was a story written by Harry Mason about Silent Hill. He claimed that while he was here he experienced such evil that if it weren't for his love and worry for his missing daughter, Cheryl, he would never have gotten through."  
  
"Harry Mason... Wasn't he that man that was sent to an asylum for his claims of having to battle demons and travel to Hell to save his daughter and second wife?" Gordon asked, finally recovering from his queasiness.  
  
"And that his first wife was possessed by a demon that she was supposed to give birth to, to destroy humanity?" Virgil added.  
  
"Yeah. He also carried around a little radio that he kept out of tune. Said he was using it so he could be warned of any monsters. Unfortunately nobody believed him. His second wife even started saying he was crazy, even though she supposedly had gone through the same ordeal, not only battling demons, but was possessed by one as well," Sam said, then shrugged. "Guess it was so traumatic she didn't want to remember it as anything more than a bad dream."  
  
"Didn't he die not too long ago?" Gordon asked.  
  
"Yeah. Suicide. He left a note on the wall with his blood that said something about darkness devouring the light and that 'the radio is the key', whatever that means," Sam said and everyone just nodded and stood there in silence, trying to digest everything that had just been said.  
  
********  
  
John continued to walk up the road he thought would lead to help. He stayed close to the curb, and kept his gun at the ready. He had already encountered two more of the strange birds since he started walking again. One he was able to sneak up on as it searched the ground for whatever such birds search for, and killed it before it had a chance to even cry for help. Usually John felt bad after killing something, especially if it wasn't going to be eaten later, but he felt a somewhat grim joy every time he killed one of these things.   
  
He figured out that his communicator was good for locating these things as well. If something was coming towards him, his communicator would start to emit static. The closer the creature, the thicker the static. He also found out that after he killed something, if there wasn't another one near by, the communicator would go silent. Using this new found knowledge, he was able to avoid many conflicts with the birds and dogs.  
  
John stopped after another long bit of walking and looked around. To his left he could just make out the shape of a car parked on the side of the road. To his right were the yellow lines that marked the middle of the street. He looked behind him, but the fog was so thick he could only see a couple of feet. It was as if the fog was only letting John see what it wanted him to see.  
  
Feeling lonely and hopelessly lost, John decided to check out the car on the side of the road. Finding no one in the car, and the doors unlocked, John got in. He rummaged around in the glove compartment, hoping to find a map of the town, but instead, found a set of keys. John's mood began to lighten considerably. 'I hope the owner won't mind me borrowing this for a few minutes,' John thought as he moved a wallet and a watch off the front seat and sat down.   
  
For a minute, John was happy. When he realized that not only was the car not starting, but that it was sitting there as quietly as he had found it, he began to lose hope again. Around this time he also started to notice that the clinking of the keys sounded almost dull, like there was something stopping the sound. Right away he thought of Stephen King's, Langoliers. John laughed at himself. Here he was, almost thirty, in a fog enshrouded ghost town alone, and thinking about an old horror movie he saw as a kid. He laughed until tears came to his eyes then just shook his head. 'If only the guys could see me now,' he thought.  
  
****************  
  
"Aren't you guys hot in those coats of yours?" Sam asked as she came out of the bathroom of her hotel room wearing a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt with 'You say psycho like it's a bad thing' written in white, her hair pulled back into a braid.  
  
"I am," Scott admitted and took his coat off. Gordon took his off as well, while Virgil just pushed the sleeves of his uniform up.  
  
"So what brings you three handsome men to this place?" Sam asked, digging in one of her bags.  
  
"We're from International Rescue. We got a call for help out here," Virgil said.  
  
"Did you find who was in trouble?"  
  
"Not yet. We just got here about forty-five minutes ago. The fog's so dense it'll take a while to find this person," Gordon said, plopping down on one of the beds in the room.  
  
"Plus, we lost our brother, John, in the fog too. We need to find him before we leave," Scott added.  
  
"Well, I think I might be able to help you out." Sam pulled out a folder and began flipping through papers in it, until she pulled out a couple of maps. "These are maps to this resort area of Silent Hill, and the main neighborhood just up the road a ways."  
  
Scott thanked her and took the maps. He and his brothers started heading for the door when Sam stopped them.  
  
"Please let me go with you. I could help you guys out, and work on my research at the same time!" Sam pleaded, and the boys just looked at each other.  
  
"Well…" Scott started.  
  
"We COULD use the help," Virgil added.  
  
"And a delightful distraction," Gordon added with that goofy grin, which made Scott smile.  
  
"All right. Just stick close to us. The last thing we need is to lose someone else," Scott said.  
  
Sam clapped her hands in glee and hugged Scott, making him blush and grin.  
  
"Shall we be off?" Virgil said, shooting Scott a nasty look which only made Scott's grin widen.  
  
**************  
  
John sat back in the driver's seat of the car, his head back against the headrest, his eyes closed. He tried to figure out what the best thing to do would be. Slowly he began to drift to sleep. He started dreaming he was back home, walking on the beach with his mother. He looked out at the brilliant blue water that surrounded his island paradise, and smiled. He took a couple more steps and without warning, the image faded away to leave him standing in the road, fog surrounding him. John looked around in shock and horror at this, and was about to start walking down the street when he heard someone screaming.   
  
Waking up with a start, John groaned and rubbed his temples. He hadn't meant to fall asleep, and now he really wished he hadn't. With a sigh, he opened the car door and was getting out when he heard a scream from down the road. 'That sounded like the one from my dream!' John thought. He started running in the direction of the scream, gun drawn.   
  
He had gone about half a block before his communicator started going off, the static very thick. He slowed to a fast walk and listened carefully for what was making his radio static. Without warning, a something ran past him, followed by the sound of dogs growling and wings flapping not far behind. John aimed in the direction of the growling and flapping and was rewarded with a yelp and cry from the two creatures. He ran towards the sounds and saw the drops of blood on the road that showed were the creatures were. Looking around him, John tried to see where the creatures went when he felt claws sink into his shoulder. Turning, he saw it was one of those birds, and had to dodge this way and that to keep it from clawing and pecking at him. As soon as he got a clear shot, he fired at it. When the bird finally fell, John ran up to it and kicked its head, sending it down the road.  
  
Taking a second to catch his breath, John noticed that the static on his communicator had gone down to a high pitched whine, which meant that the dog was moving away from him. Cursing to himself, he ran off in the direction he thought it had gone. He hadn't gotten very far before he heard a yelp and someone yelling coming from his right. Running over, he arrived just in time to see a clearly frightened young woman pressed against the wall of a building, swing a rusted pipe at the dog, trying to hold it off. Taking careful aim, John shot the dog in the shoulder. Turning its attention from the girl to John, the dog lunged at him, and John shot it again, knocking backwards onto the ground. The girl then ran up and beat the dog's head in with the pipe, causing John's communicator to go quiet again.  
  
"Are you all right?" John asked as he walked up to the still shaken woman.  
  
"Y-Yes. I think so." She looked up at him. "Thank you."  
  
"You're welcome," John said and was taken by surprise when the girl ran over and hugged him.  
  
"You don't know how good it is to see another human being," she said quietly, with a deep sadness in her voice.  
  
"What do you mean? What's going on around here?"  
  
"I don't know. I was at work one minute, and everything was fine. The next thing I knew I was waking up on the floor of the store and it was like this. By the way, my name's Cammy. What's yours?"  
  
"Mine's John. Nice to meet you, though I wish it was under better circumstances," John said looking down into her dark green eyes.   
  
Cammy smiled at him and pulled herself away. "You're not from around here, are you?"  
  
John shook his head. "I came with my brothers on a call for help."  
  
"You're dressed kinda funny for a policeman," Cammy said, looking John up and down.  
  
"I'm not a policeman. I'm with International Rescue."  
  
Cammy just looked at him. They stood there for a few minutes, not sure what to say next, when John's communicator started going off again.  
  
"What's wrong with your watch?" Cammy asked.  
  
John drew his gun, checked the ammo then started pushing Cammy towards the building. With her behind him, John braced himself for whatever was going to jump out of the fog. After several minutes they heard the growling of a dog.  
  
"John…?" Cammy began but was silenced when John held his hand up.  
  
Taking a couple of cautious steps away from Cammy, he looked for the dog he knew was there. He walked just far enough to see the shadow of the building before turning around. Feeling very uneasy, he started walking back towards the building when Cammy yelled at him to duck. Doing so, he felt something brush the top of his head and as it landed turned around and came at John. In the awkward position he was in, John was knocked over by the dog and tried his best to keep the thing from biting him, but the slime covering the dog made it hard for him to hold its head back. Thinking about the many other ways he would have rather died, John didn't notice Cammy running towards him and the dog until he saw the small bent part of the pipe stop just inches from his face.   
  
Cammy swung at the dog several times before knocking it off of John. As he slowly got up, she walked towards the dog, swinging the pipe to keep it at bay. It tried to lunge at her, and she swung the pipe, striking it squarely in the chest and knocking it over. As John watched, she ran up to the dog and beat its body into a bloody mess, killing it. John walked over to her and shook his head.  
  
"I guess we're even now," he said, grimacing at the pile of broken bones, blood, and pulverized innards that were once a dog.  
  
"We should get some medical supplies. Your shoulder's bleeding," Cammy said, turning to face him.  
  
"Any ideas?"  
  
"A friend of mine lives over on Levin Street. It's a little over a block away. She should have at least a first aid kit we could use."  
  
"All right. Lead the way," John said, smiling. 


	5. Darkness Falls

A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update this! I know how anxious everyone is to see what happens next. Believe me, I am too, and I'm the one that's writing it! Now that the story's moving on to the first fun-filled area of Silent Hill, I promise you the chapters should start speeding up as far as updates are concerned. Also, if you're not a fan of Silent Hill (or haven't heard of/played it yet), but would kind of like to follow along, you can go to Silent Hill Heaven - http://www.silenthillheaven.com/Site/Main/Main.html - and look at the maps to chart where everyone is. Click Silent Hill 1, then Maps. And to make it easy on you, I'll post what maps to use (you can decide on whether to use the normal or the complete map, but I, myself, use the complete). For this chapter you'll need the Old Silent Hill and maybe the Resort/South Park map. Next chapter you'll definitely need the Midwich Elementary School maps and the Sewer A maps. Anyhoo... Now that you can follow along, we shall begin the next chapter!  
  
Duette  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Gordon walked ahead of his brothers and Sam, making sure to keep them in sight, as he directed them towards the residential area, his nose firmly stuck in the map. Scott and Virgil walked on either side of Sam, both trying to out-do the other in embarrassing stories and tales of heroics. Everyone one was so wrapped up in their own thing that Gordon almost walked off the end of the street. Jumping back and startling the others, Gordon stood at the edge of the road and just stared at it.  
  
"What happened to the road?" Virgil asked, walking up to the jagged edge that was left.  
  
"It looks like it just fell off," Scott said, joining his brothers.  
  
"There's nothing there…" Gordon said, astounded. It took Virgil and Scott a couple of minutes to realize exactly what he had meant.   
  
The road looked like it had been broken apart, as if from an earthquake, but unlike an earthquake, there was nothing left of the other half of the road. There wasn't any rubble, pipes, or even water squirting out from broken pipes. There was just nothing, except the fog.   
  
Taking its time to sink in, Virgil walked up to the edge and kneeled down to get a better look. What he saw would haunt him in his dreams for quite a while. He could see straight down, the thickness of the road and about three feet of the ground beneath, but below that was nothing but fog. Virgil picked up a good piece of gravel and dropped it, listening carefully for any sound, but as the piece disappeared into the fog, so did the noise. After a couple more tries, Virgil got up and shuddered.  
  
"Gordon was right. There's nothing there. Nothing at all. Just the fog as far as you can see. It's like the other side of the road never even existed," Virgil said in a slightly haunted tone.  
  
"It's starting…" Sam said out loud to herself.  
  
"What is?" Scott asked, watching Virgil as he turned and looked at the edge of the road in a daze.  
  
"Well, if what Mr. Mason wrote was true then everything he went through, the chilling story that he wrote about, is beginning. In his book, he said that first there was fog and snow, which is unusual for near-summer weather. Then some of the roads mysteriously seemed to drop off the face of the earth and the tunnels into town were completely blocked off," Sam said.  
  
"So what do we do now?" Gordon asked as Scott went over and talked quietly to Virgil.  
  
"There's an old sewer that's supposed to run from here to old Silent Hill. We could try and go through there," Sam suggested, pointing on the map.  
  
****  
  
John and Cammy cautiously made their way up Matheson Street and onto Levin Street, careful to avoid anything that set off John's watch. Once on Levin Street, Cammy told John to look for a house with a dog house in front. Since all the houses were painted the same shade of blue-grey, and looked almost identical, the dog house was the easiest landmark because there was only one on the street. They made their way up the right hand side of the road past four houses before Cammy realized she was on the wrong side. Arm in arm, they slowly crossed the road. As they reached the other side, John's watch began to whine, but he didn't try to look around. Whatever it was was far enough away to not be much of a threat.   
  
As they reached the other side, Cammy took off at a jog, with John not far behind her. The static was starting to pick up as they headed down the street, making John nervous. After making it about halfway down the block, they finally found the dog house. Cheers of excitement were cut short as they continued to get closer to the small building and the horror that they saw.  
  
The dog house, painted a slightly bluer shade than the house itself, was splattered with blood. There were claw and teeth marks on the outside around the entrance. When Cammy looked inside to find the extra house keys, she nearly gagged at the site of her friend's dog. Pieces of bone, the collar and tags, and a pile unidentifiable innards lay in the back of the dog house in a pool of blood. Cammy shuddered and closed her eyes, trying to blockout the sight of such carnage.  
  
John waited anxiously as Cammy felt around the dog house, his gun at the ready. His watch was going haywire and the fog was starting to get thicker again. He got so wrapped up in trying to look for the source that was creating the static that he jumped and fired a shot at the tree in front of him when Cammy exclaimed that she had found the keys. Sighing with relief, John walked towards Cammy to help her up, but stopped cold in his tracks. Just in front of Cammy, hidden by the dog house, was one of the skinless dogs he had grown to hate. John whispered as loud as he dared for Cammy to stay still. Sensing the urgency in his voice, she stayed crouched in front of the dog house. Slowly the dog sniffed around the back of the dog house, then made its way to the side of the main house. When John thought it was far enough away, he ran and grabbed Cammy's arm and pulled her swiftly up the steps and onto the porch. With hands trembling and John urging her to go faster, Cammy tried to unlock the door. Suddenly, there was a loud, echoed growling and several of the dogs started running towards them as they stood there. Just as the first dog lunged for them, they fell into the house and quickly shut the door, almost smiling as they heard an almost sickening crunch and thud of a dog's neck breaking from the impact into the door.  
  
Cammy leaned against the door as John looked around for something to put in front of it while the dogs scratched and pawed on the other side. He found a heavy bookcase not far down the hall and as quickly as possible, the two of them moved it in front of the door. They both collapsed against the bookcase and laughed nervously as the dogs began to lunge at the door. After several minutes of catching their breath and thanking God that they were still alive, they helped each other up and began looking for medical supplies to bandage up John's shoulder wound. After looking for several minutes, all they could find that was useful were a couple of boxes of handgun bullets, a flashlight and some extra batteries, and an empty bottle of spray on antibiotic ointment.  
  
"So what do we do now?" John asked, tossing the empty can into the waste basket in the hall as he looked towards the still blocked door. The dogs had stopped trying to come in, but he could still hear them growling occasionally through the door.  
  
"Well… the only other places I can think of that might have something are the hospital and the elementary school," Cammy said, sitting down in a chair around the empty and dust covered dining room table.  
  
"Where's the hospital at?" John asked, wincing as a sharp pain went down his arm.  
  
"On the other side of town. Over in the shopping district."  
  
"And where's the school?"   
  
"At the edge of town, just down the road aways."  
  
"Which do you think would be better?" John asked, walking into the room, holding his upper arm.  
  
"Well the hospital, for sure, but the school IS closer and there's always a nurse from the hospital on duty there."  
  
"I guess it's off to school then," John said, looking back towards the door. "How do we get there, though? We can't possibly leave through the front door."  
  
"The back. We can take the alley that leads to Bloch Street then get on to Midwich. The school's just a block or so from there."  
  
John nodded as Cammy got up and headed for the back door. John followed and looked at the back door in disbelief. There were three large deadbolt locks on the door. The kind of deadbolt that would never move, even if the door was burned right out from around it.  
  
"What're all the locks for?" John asked as Cammy unlocked the last one.  
  
"Paranoia. Over the last couple of months my friend's suddenly gotten the idea that some members of a cult are coming after her. She said that they were always trying to come in her back door."   
  
John just shook his head grimly and Cammy opened the door. They stood there in shock. John checked his watch then looked outside again. The snow and fog enshrouded town had suddenly gotten very dark for three in the afternoon. 


	6. Children of the Night

A/N: Whoo-boy! This is my longest chapter yet! I hope none of ya'll get bored with it! Of course now that school's started, I've found that there's much more free time to write, so I should be able to update more often (if I'm not bogged down with more damn reports!). Also, I'm hoping that with this one being so long everyone can forgive me for not updating sooner. Maps you'll need (if you're following along, are the Sewer A maps and the Midwich Elementary maps, both regular and alternate. As I have said before, I use the complete. Doesn't neccessarily mean I follow them exactly, but I do use them. Anyhoo... On with the story....  
  
Duette  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Anyone got a flashlight?" Scott asked as they looked down the entrance into the sewers.   
  
"We can check the maintenance building there and see if there's a flashlight," Gordon suggested.  
  
"Good idea," Scott said and headed for the building. He tried the door, but found that it was locked. Taking several steps back, he tried to knock the door open with his shoulder. Everyone grimaced as they watched him try repeatedly to open it. Virgil and Gordon jumped in to help, but they too, were unsuccessful in getting the door open.  
  
"Whoever was in there last, sure blocked that door up. It's like hitting a brick wall!" Gordon exclaimed.  
  
"Looks like we'll be going in the dark," Virgil said.  
  
Nodding quietly in agreement, everyone just stood around the opening, staring into the darkness. After a few minutes, they looked at each other.  
  
"So who's going down first?" Sam asked.  
  
*****  
  
John and Cammy quickly made their way down the darkened alley behind the house. They stopped only long enough to dispatch with more of the giant skin-less birds before getting to the end of the alley. Slipping into the shadows cast from the street lights, they carefully made their way up the street without any problems. When they reached the school, they were nearly ambushed by two more of the sickeningly strange dogs. After quickly killing them off, they entered the school, weapons drawn.  
  
Once inside, John turned on the flashlight and looked around, letting out a small sigh of relief for lack of strange creatures. Looking around, they found a copy of a map of the school sitting on a bench. According to the map, the infirmary was just outside and down the hall to the right. Folding it up and putting it in his back pocket, John grabbed Cammy's hand and headed for the infirmary.  
  
*****  
  
"Come on down!" Scott yelled from the bottom of the ladder leading to the sewers.   
  
Slowly, one by one, the others made their way down. They gathered around the ladder and looked around them. The grey light from above illuminated the area just enough for them to see a chain link wall just a few feet away. Together they walked up to it and began to feel for a door. In seconds, Sam called to the others that she had found a door and opened it. Everyone grabbed the hand of another and walked through the opening and into the darkness.   
  
They were suddenly startled when they heard a loud slam behind them, making them all jump. When they turned around they saw, standing there and holding a flashlight up to his face, was a strange little man.   
  
He looked to be in his late thirties, early forties, balding, and wore thick rimmed glasses. At first glance he could easily be mistaken as a stereotypical engineer or nerd. Gordon giggled as this thought popped into his mind, making the man turn and glare at him.  
  
"You must get out of here!" the man exclaimed. The echo in the tunnel made his demand sound more menacing than he appeared.  
  
"That's what we're hoping to do," Gordon said after the echo died.  
  
"No! You must leave now! Get out of town NOW!" the little man screamed, his face turning red.  
  
"Sir, please calm down. We will leave town as soon as we can, but we have to find our brother first," Virgil said, reaching for the man's arm. The man jerked back, slipping on the damp and slime covered sewer floor.  
  
Gordon broke out into a fit of laughter as Virgil and Scott, smiling, went to help the man up.  
  
"Thank you," the man said quietly, brushing himself off.  
  
"Are you all right?" Virgil asked.  
  
"Yes, but you still have to leave!"  
  
"We will, Mr. uh…"   
  
"Tod. That's Tod with one 'd'," he finished for Scott.  
  
"All right, uh, Tod with one 'd'," Scott said, throwing a worried glance at Virgil.  
  
"That's ONE 'd'," Tod reiterated.  
  
"Yes. One 'd.' Gotcha," Gordon said before leaning over to his brothers and whispering, "This guy's a nut case! A total loon!"  
  
"You're one to talk little bro," Virgil said and patted Gordon on the back, who gave him an odd look.  
  
"Tod…"  
  
"That's with one 'd'."  
  
"…Would you like to come with us?" Scott finished.  
  
"No! I have to lock the gates! I have to keep the good in and let the evil out!"  
  
"Ok… Do you know where we can get flashlights?" Gordon asked.  
  
"Yes! Take mine! I have bunches of them! Must keep the dark at bay after all!"  
  
The boys looked at each other, very worried. They graciously accepted the flashlights from Tod (with one 'd'), and looked around. There wasn't much that they hadn't already expected.   
  
Water dripped from the ceiling, and the floor was covered in moss, mold, and a slimy substance that made it almost treacherous to walk. They looked at the chain link wall that they had just passed through and grimaced. It was covered in rust and slimy moss hung from it in random places. Almost as if someone tried to hastily throw together a camouflage net to hide the ladder into the sewers. Thanking Tod (with one 'd') again for his help, they started to make their way down the tunnel on their right. They had already gone a ways before they realized something was wrong. Stopping to discuss it, they suddenly realized what it was. Sam had disappeared.  
  
*****  
  
John and Cammy sat in the school's infirmary. They had been able to find gauze and medicine, and successfully wrapped up John's wound. They were starting to discuss what they would do next, when John suddenly signaled Cammy to be silent. Taking his warning, she stopped talking and they just sat there and listened. It wasn't long before she heard what John had. The ceiling was creaking, which could only mean that someone was on the next floor.  
  
Telling Cammy to wait for him in the infirmary, John pulled out his gun, and opened the door. To his right was a set of double doors, but when he tried them, he found they were locked. He turned around and headed to the opposite end of the hall. Just as he had thought, there was another set of double doors. Unfortunately, these, too, were locked. Sighing with defeat, he turned around and nearly shot Cammy in surprise.  
  
"Locked?" She asked.  
  
"Don't scare me like that! You could have been shot!" John exclaimed then calmed himself down after the scare. "Yes. They're both locked."  
  
"There's the courtyard door."  
  
John nodded then took Cammy's hand, walking to the doors leading out to the courtyard. They opened them and looked out. It was still dark. Carefully they made their way down the stairs and froze in shock as the clock tower suddenly struck one. John went over to investigate it. He found two strange looking medallions, one gold, one silver, lying on the ground near the three little steps leading up to a door in the clock tower.   
  
John picked up one and Cammy picked up the other. They looked at them both, then at the clock tower. It was then Cammy noticed the indentions on both sides of the door. Wiping out dirt and grass bits, they saw that the indentations corresponded with the shapes of the two medallions. Shrugging, they put the medallions in the holes and stood back. The clock tower struck five, and after the last chime, they heard a click. They pressed on the doors and found them to be open.  
  
With John in the lead, they headed down the ladder that was inside the tower. When they reached the bottom, they found themselves in a strange little tunnel. Looking around, they noticed that there were bits of broken bottles all over the place. Picking one up, John was able to read the label that was left. All it said was "White Claudia, 6 oz." John asked Cammy if she knew what White Claudia was, and she just shook her head. Setting the bottle down, they continued on down the surprisingly short tunnel until they found another ladder. Again, with John in the lead, they went up. They walked only a short distance into the courtyard before they noticed something on the ground. A siren sounded in the distance, but they hardly took notice, so entranced as they were in the markings. Taking a few steps back, they could see it was some sort of symbol. Cammy shivered and John just stared as the symbol seemed to glow a dark red, then fade to black.  
  
*****  
  
The boys ran back down the tunnel to where they started and looked around. Virgil tried the door they had gone through early, but found it locked. Scott and Gordon headed down the tunnel that was straight behind them. Not wanting to be left alone, Virgil ran to catch up to them, suddenly feeling very scared.   
  
They walked a short ways before they came up to another chain link wall. It took no time to find the door, but when they tried it, they found it was locked. Shining their flashlights through the holes, they tried to see what lay farther up the tunnel. They saw something move at the edge of the fading circles of light and called to it. When there was no reply, they tried again. The silence and their echoes began to take on a haunting feel and the boys suddenly found themselves huddled close together.  
  
"C-Come on guys. Let's, uh, let's get out of here," Virgil said, his voice cracking slightly, as he slowly started pulling on his brothers' sleeves.  
  
The others nodded and they all went back down they tunnel they had started on. The reached the end of the tunnel and turned to the tunnel on their left. They walked slowly at first, gradually speeding up until they were at a full run. They came to an intersection and looked around for the direction they should go. Scott walked a short ways before calling to the others that he had found a ladder. They quickly climbed up the ladder and looked around in slight horror. They were still in the sewer. They began walking down the tunnel when they heard a loud scurrying sound. Looking around, they found two giant cockroaches heading straight for them. They moved away from their line of travel and shined their flashlights right at them. The roaches ignored the light and continued to head in their direction. Scott pulled out his gun and shot at the nearest roach. It squeaked, but kept coming at them. Gordon pulled out his gun too, and shot at the other one. This one he was sure he nailed in the head, but it too, only squeaked and continued on it's course. Virgil, more out fear and the need to get out of the sewers, ran up and kicked on of the roaches. It sailed into a wall and lay on it's back, kicking its feet in the air. With little hesitation, Virgil walked up to it and stomped on it several times, eventually leaving its exoskeleton full of bug guts and pieces.   
  
Meanwhile Scott and Gordon were trying to stomp on the remaining roach, but having no success as their wet boots were just slipping off of the hard, smooth shell. Getting frustrated, Scott was going to shoot at the roach again when he felt something pinch him hard on the back of his ankle. Turning, he saw a third roach. Leaving Gordon to take care of the other one, Scott decided just to shoot the hell out of this one. After finally killing the remaining roaches, the boys just looked at each other.  
  
"I guess we won't be taking Alan a pet back," Gordon said, looking over the remains of the giant insects. Scott groaned and hit Gordon on the arm. They rough housed a little bit, but stopped when they saw Virgil.  
  
"Virg? You ok?" Gordon asked as he walked over.  
  
Virgil just stood there, one foot still in the middle of the bug remains, staring at the floor, almost in a daze.  
  
"Virgil?" Scott asked, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder.  
  
"Let's go," Virgil said and just started to walk off. Scott and Gordon  
  
just looked at each other then hurried to catch up with Virgil.  
  
*****  
  
John and Cammy cautiously walked down the hall and back into the infirmary. This new school had apparently the same lay out, but it was very different. Everything seemed to be made of cement and chain link fence. Almost like a twisted version of some sort of factory from Hell. And it all looked like it had been around for quite a while. Rust covered just about everything. At least that's what John told Cammy the red coloring everywhere was. Personally, he thought that some of the stains on the walls looked more like blood than rust.  
  
They sat quietly in the infirmary, not sure exactly what to   
  
say. In a span of minutes, the innocent looking school had suddenly turned into a nightmare. In the silence, they began to hear the ceiling creak again. Jumping up, they headed for the door.  
  
"I'm going up there," John said.  
  
"Are you nuts? Have you SEEN the school? It's like something from Wes Craven's nightmare! You're not going out there alone," Cammy said, crossing her arms and looking very determined.  
  
"You watch a lot of horror movies, don't you?" John asked, smiling slightly.  
  
"Yes, and if you have too, then you'd realize that the so called hero always ends up dying in the end."  
  
"No they don't. They always come back for the sequels," John said and winked at her.  
  
"What happens if you don't come back? I can't stay in here forever, you know."  
  
"I know. I'll come back. I wouldn't want to leave ANYONE here. This is why I have to go and see what's up there. It could be a lost child. I need you to stay here and be ready with the medical supplies. There's no telling if those dogs or birds have gotten in."  
  
"But…!"  
  
"Stay here! I'll be able to go there and back faster if I know that you're safe."  
  
Cammy glared at him. "You just don't want me to go because you think I'm weaker than you."  
  
"Look. I hardly know you, but I can tell already that you can take care of yourself. And it's because of that I'm asking you to stay here. Something may happen to me and I'll need your help then. Who knows? Maybe it's nothing. Maybe it's just the building settling. They do that. But if it IS something, I don't want you to get hurt. Besides… It's my JOB to be the hero. I know how to handle all types of rescues. I've been doing it for a quite a while now."  
  
Cammy sighed. "You'd better come back. I don't know how long I'll be able to stay in this place alone. It's so creepy."  
  
John smiled and kissed the top of her head. "You'll do fine. Now just stay here. I'll try and be back as soon as possible."  
  
Cammy nodded and John smiled. He took his gun out; counted the bullets left in the clip, and the number of bullets he had on hand, then left the infirmary and went back out into the courtyard. Cammy closed the door to the infirmary and sat in a chair in the far corner of the room, steel pipe in hand, ready for anything.  
  
John walked out into the courtyard and shuddered at the sight of the symbol. It was a circle within a circle with a triangle in the middle of the smaller circle. There were strange markings all around inside the circles and triangle. John had no idea what they stood for, but he god a bad feeling from them, and walked around it as he headed to the other side. He decided to try the doors of the tower, but they were locked tight. Expecting as much, John continued to the other side of the courtyard. He tried the doors and found them open. Taking a deep breath, he walked inside, gun at the ready.  
  
His watch began to whine, and he looked around him and listened for the sounds of the dogs or the birds. What he heard instead was a groaning. It was hard to tell where it was coming from as it seemed to echo off the bare walls. Not wanting to take any chances, John rushed into the room right across from him to try and catch a glimpse of these creatures and plan a strategy before attacking.  
  
John's watch began to go nuts. Panicking, he looked around the room. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a shadow move. Turning and backing himself up against the wall, he started firing at it. The thing kept coming towards him, and all he could do was continue to back up and fire at it. When he had backed himself into a corner, he began to panic even more. In an attempt to give himself a little more time, he decided to run straight at the creature. After all, victims never run towards their attackers, and the surprise would give him just enough time to reload and fire.  
  
As he ran towards the creature, it began to take shape. It looked like the shadow of a young child, only without the child. As John got closer, the strange apparition turned and ran away from him. He gave chase but stopped when it suddenly disappeared through a wall. The encounter was so fast and confusing; John had to sit down for a few minutes to regain his composure, repeating to himself the oath he had given his father when he accepted his role into International Rescue. After regaining control of his shaking limbs and his fast breathing, John got up, dusted himself off, and headed for the door.  
  
He held the flashlight up to the glass and tried to look through the darkness, but he couldn't see much. He opened the door a little bit and peeked out, then little by little opened the door even more. Except for the static of his watch, the hallways had become suddenly very silent.  
  
Taking a deep breath, he walked into the hallway and decided to see what lay at the end on his right. John had only walked a short distance before he started hearing the strange groaning again. Slowly edging his way up the hallway, gun at the ready, John saw something white up ahead start to glow in the faint edges of his flashlight. As he made his way closer, the object began to take on the form of another small child.  
  
"Hey there, little fella. Are you all right? What are you doing roaming around in this scary place, huh?" John asked as he kneeled beside it and touched its shoulder. He gasped in shock and horror as the child slowly turned around to face him.  
  
The child was wearing little more than a loin cloth which looked to be made from the remains of some out fit it must have worn at one time. It's skin was very white and almost glowed in John's flashlight. It's whole body seemed to be covered in scabs and scars from battles long past and its head was very deformed. In short it looked like a grotesque and mangled version of E.T., only at the end of the head where the face should be there was a single eye. It was very clouded and John doubted that it could actually see from it, but he felt it COULD see him nonetheless.   
  
John reached out as if to hug the child when he heard it groan. The same haunting noise which had driven him into the other room. He also just realized that his watch had become overwhelmed with static and whined really loud. Taking an awkward jump back from his crouched position he just barely missed having his arm sliced off by the knife he hadn't noticed the child carrying.   
  
John stood up and began to try and reason with the child. He slowly backed down the hallway and the child hobbled after him. Looking for another room or something to duck into, John nearly tripped over something behind him. Turning, he saw it was another strange child. This one grabbed his leg and tried to slash at it while John was kicking it off. Deciding he had had enough, John began to run to the end of the hall, knocking over a third zombie child before crashing through a set of double doors. He quickly closed them and fell to the floor, laughing nervously and quite shaken. As he slowly was able to calm himself once again, he noticed the sound of many scurrying feet on the chain link floor. Not wanting to take any more chances, John raced up the stairs in front of him.   
  
As he rounded the corner and began to go up to the second floor, the flashlight suddenly turned off. John tried everything he could in the darkness to get it to turn back on, but nothing worked. He sat down on the top step and tried to think of something to do when he heard the strange groans of the zombie children and his watch whining. He suddenly realized that he was alone in the dark in a haunted school with children who wanted you dead, and it scared the hell out of him. As quietly and carefully as possible, John crept up to the second floor to find a safe place to hide. If there was such a thing in this nightmarish world. 


	7. Silent Music and Screaming Cats

Sorry for taking so long to get this up. I'm still suffering from anxiety attacks, severe boredom, lack of drive, and low creativity. Also, school's started up again. Hopefully I'll be able to spend bored class time writing. Here's the newest chapter. I've got ideas for upcoming chapters running through my head (and let me tell you, this is gonna be a VERY long story), and may end up combining a couple of chapters so there won't be so many to read. Anyhoo... Onto the story.   
  
Duette  
  
P.S. The poem is Konami property, not mine.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Scott, Gordon, and Virgil made their way out of the sewers with little trouble after their run-in with the giant roaches. They stood outside the entrance and looked around. The town was still covered in fog, but it had stopped snowing. It had also become much darker than when they had started in the sewers.  
  
"So where do we go from here?" Scott asked.  
  
Gordon started to pull out a map, but stopped as he noticed Virgil. He was slowly taking steps into the darkness on the boys' right. After a few steps, he called John's name softly. Scott and Gordon followed and tried to see what Virgil was calling to, but couldn't. They just watched as Virgil slowly walked and talked to this apparition he was seeing. It wasn't long before the boys found themselves in front of the Midwich Elementary School. Virgil had stopped just outside the doors and looked up.  
  
"He's in there. John's in the school."  
  
"How do you know, Virg?" Scott asked.  
  
"He told me," Virgil replied, his voice sounding distant.  
  
Scott and Gordon looked at each other. They didn't know what was happening to Virgil, but they didn't like it. This sudden change was really starting to worry them. As if hearing their thoughts, Virgil turned and smiled.  
  
"C'mon! Johnny-boy's waiting!" Virgil exclaimed and ran into the school. Gordon and Scott shivered, the same thought running through their mind. Only one person had ever called John, Johnny-boy, and that was their deceased mother.  
  
Not wanting to leave Virgil alone, Gordon and Scott ran in. Virgil, with a creepy smile on his face and almost vacant look in his eyes, waited almost impatiently for his brothers inside the entryway.  
  
"Johnny-boy waits!" Virgil said, disappearing into the hall.  
  
"Virg, wait!" Gordon yelled, running after him, with Scott not far behind.  
  
The two boys followed Virgil down the hall to their left and into what looked like a reception area. They looked around and then headed into what was clearly a small lounge area behind the reception desk. Scott and Gordon walked around the room, checking under tables and couches for anyone who might be hiding there. Virgil just stood, staring at a large painting on the right wall of the room. When the boys were through, they joined their brother in looking at the strange artwork.  
  
"Creepy," Gordon said.  
  
Scott walked up to it for a closer look. The painting showed what looked like an aged wall with a strange door in the middle with three dark squares on it. On either side of the door hung a body. The sex was hard to determine since the faces were covered and the skin was cut off the front of the body and stretched on poles surrounding them. Scott felt like gagging at the gruesome details that were painted in, all the way to the texture of the inner organs, but he held himself back. He didn't want to look weak in front of his brothers who needed his strength now, even though he noticed Gordon was looking pale.  
  
"Can we get out of here?" Gordon asked nervously.  
  
"Good idea. I think I saw a map of the school back on the receptionist's desk. Let's grab it and try to figure out where to start looking," Scott said.  
  
Virgil just continued to stand there and stare at the painting with the strange grin on his face, ignoring his brothers. Gordon grabbed his arm and pulled him along after Scott. The boys went back to the reception area and stopped just long enough for Scott to pick up a map, and to figure out where to start looking.  
  
They started down the hall to their right and checked the infirmary. Inside they found an empty gun clip, recently used gauze and a few blood soaked paper towel, Scott and Gordon looked at each other, then back at the small mess that was in the room. Virgil just smiled and hummed to himself, looking out the window into the darkness.  
  
"Do you think this could have been from John?" Scott asked.  
  
"Johnny-boy was here, but now he's gone. Time for us to be on," Virgil said.  
  
Gordon shrugged. "I couldn't tell you, but let's go ahead and go. The faster we search these rooms, the faster we can try to get Virgil out and better."  
  
****  
  
Jeff paced in the lounge as Grandma Tracy brought more coffee. Brains and Tin-Tin had gone to the lab to work on a project, leaving Jeff in the lounge alone. It had been several hours now since the boys had left for the rescue and Jeff was really starting to worry.   
  
No one had called in and Alan couldn't get a hold of the boys. Usually chatter between the boys and mobile control could be heard on Thunderbird 5's high-tech equipment, but all Alan was getting was the usual chatter from every other person in the world, except his brothers. Jeff had been calling him almost every ten minutes for an update, but kept getting the same answer. Jeff wasn't sure of what may be happening to his boys, but he suddenly went chill as thoughts of the worse crossed his mind.  
  
****  
  
The boys quickly made their way across the courtyard and into the hallway. Virgil led them as they went through a set of double doors on their left and up the stairs. He then stopped in front of another set of double doors and tapped his communicator.  
  
"What's wrong?" Gordon asked.  
  
"Mommy and Johnny-boy say to listen. Turn our radios on and listen to the music. Must play the silent music," Virgil said, tapping his communicator again.  
  
Scott looked at Virgil, growing even more worried as his brother seemed to grow a little more detached from reality as they continued their stay in the strange place. Gordon felt the same way, and muttered to himself as he busied himself with studying the map of the school.   
  
"Hey guys! There's a music room here! I bet that's where John is waiting for us!" Gordon happily exclaimed.  
  
"Good thinking, Gordo!" Scott said, patting his brother on the back. "Lead the way."  
  
Gordon nodded and began walking down the hall as Scott gently led Virgil, who was still playing with his communicator. Gordon notice that there seemed to be some red stuff splattered on the floor and lockers as he passed, and at first thought it was blood, but convinced himself it was just paint for Halloween, even though it was still a month away.   
  
They got to the end of the hall and tried the door. Finding it open, they cautiously entered the new hall. Gordon checked the map again then tried the first door on their right. Finding it unlocked, the boys walked in.  
  
It was a small room with a piano in the middle of it. Virgil ran to the piano, crying out excitedly, and stroked the wooden frame longingly. Gordon and Scott looked around the room. Besides a flag that looked worn and a sheet of music attached to the chalkboard, there wasn't anything else in the room. Noticing something red on yellowed piece of music, Scott and Gordon found a strange poem written in blood.  
  
"A Tale of Birds Without a Voice"  
  
First flew the greedy Pelican,  
Eager for the reward  
White wings flailing.  
  
Then came the silent Dove  
Flying beyond the Pelican,  
As far as he could.  
  
A raven flies in,  
Flying higher than the Dove,  
Just to show he can.  
  
A swan glides in,  
to find a peaceful spot,  
Next to another bird.  
  
Finally out comes a crow  
Coming quickly to a stop,  
Yawning and then napping.  
  
Who will show the way,  
Who will be the key,  
Who will lead to the silver reward.  
  
"Make any sense to you?" Gordon asked Scott, who just shook his head. A thud from behind made them jump. When they turned around, they saw that Virgil had opened the cover to the keys.  
  
Scott and Gordon looked at each other then back at Virgil who sat down and began to play a song, apparently never noticing the bloody fingerprints on some of the keys. The tune Virgil played was one he had written a while back, and in the eerie darkness of the room, it seemed the sweetest sound the boys had ever heard.  
  
Without warning, the tune stopped and Virgil stood up and just stared at the keys. He tapped one of the bloody keys, which made a dull thud sound, but otherwise made no noise. Taking on a look of extreme concentration, Virgil tried all the keys, finding five that didn't work.  
  
"Read the instructions to me please," Virgil said, waving absently towards the sheet of music.  
  
Scott read the poem again, making sure to say it loud enough so Virgil wouldn't miss anything. Virgil waited and thought about the words, then played the five broken keys. A sudden chiming of the school's clock tower made the boys jump.  
  
"A sacrifice must be made to open the door," Virgil said then headed out the door.  
  
Together the three boys walked down the rest of the hall. They were about to go through another set of double doors when they heard a banging coming from, what Gordon read on the map, was the locker room.  
  
They found as they entered the locker room, blood and rust covering a lot of the lockers and floor. They followed the sound of the banging around the row of lockers and found the locker the noise was coming from. Ready for anything with guns drawn, Scott opened the locker. Almost disappointedly, a cat came out of the locker, clearly unafraid of anything. The boys laughed and watched as the cat nonchalantly walked past them and around the row of lockers. They heard the door of the locker room creak as the cat pushed it open then heard the cat screech as something growled before making a bone crunching noise that silenced the cat.  
  
"What was that?" Gordon asked, clearly on edge.  
  
"The sacrifice has been made. The doors now open to welcome us," Virgil said as if he hadn't heard the strange creature, or the sickening crunch of bone, outside the room.  
  
Scott slapped Virgil and shook him. "Damn it, get a hold of yourself! Stop acting so damn strange!"  
  
"Scott, stop!" Gordon screamed and pulled a now crying Scott off of Virgil who just stood there, un-phased and still grinning eerily.  
  
Gordon took Scott to the nearest bench and sat him down. He held Scott and let him cry as Virgil looked around the room, his expression vacant and almost uncaring. After several minutes, Scott got himself together and talked quietly with Gordon about their next plan of action. They were so engrossed in their discussion they hadn't even noticed that Virgil left the room until they heard him scream.  
  
Running out of the locker room, Scott and Gordon saw Virgil struggling to shake off a child-sized, zombie-like creature. It was clutching onto Virgil's leg with one hand and trying to stab him again with a very sharp pencil. Gordon pulled out his gun and began shooting at the creature while Scott was trying to pull Virgil away. Eventually the creature fell and lie still, a pool of what Gordon could only guess to be blood, started to form around the white body. Gordon studied the thing while Scott looked at Virgil's cut from the pencil. Out of the darkness of the hallway a low moan arose. Virgil was the first to hear it and began to fumble with his communicator again. Scott stood up and pulled his gun out, Gordon joining him and standing on the other side of Virgil, looking around for the source of the noise.  
  
Out of the darkness came more of the strange children like the one that had just been killed. One had a knife, another had deadly looking claws instead of hands, and a third held what looked like a broken ruler with a very wicked looking point. Slowly they walked towards the boys, moaning and reaching for the boys as if to ask the brothers to let them kill them.   
  
Gordon grabbed Scott and Virgil by the arms and pushed them towards the double doors at the end of the hall. Scott tried to open them, but found the doors locked. Turning around, he watched as Gordon slowly backed up towards them.  
  
"We're going to have to try and get around them!" Scott said, fear heavy in his voice as Gordon tried the doors. They stood there for a moment, almost helpless, when Virgil stepped forward and started shooting randomly at the little terrors.  
  
One of the creatures ended up falling forward into another, gashing its arm with the broken ruler. Scott and Gordon joined Virgil and killed the three then ran to the other end of the hall and through the double doors. They continued down the hall, running down the stairs, and back out into the courtyard, unknowingly being led to the clock tower by Virgil, who had taken the lead.  
  
"Hey, Gordon, look at this," Scott said, checking the opened doors of the tower.   
  
Gordon walked over and checked it out himself, looking down the hole the ladder in the tower led to. "Where do you think it goes?"  
  
"I don't know," Scott said then turned to call to Virgil, but froze, suddenly turning very pale. He hit Gordon on the arm several times before Gordon turned around to see what was wrong, his jaw dropping at the sight of Virgil.  
  
Virgil stood a few feet away, staring down at a small shadow-like child that had strange webbed feet and a short tail that slowly walked through Virgil's legs, circled around, and walked through him again. Virgil did nothing but smile at it. Scott and Gordon didn't know what to do. Eventually Virgil started to walk towards his brothers, the shadow child following right behind him. Virgil stopped and giggled as the child continued its circuit around him. When Virgil started walking to his brothers again, he somehow knocked the thing down, making it yelp like a kicked puppy. Gordon, getting more and more freaked out by all this, ran over, and grabbing Virgil tightly by the arm, pulled him to the tower and towards the ladder inside.   
  
"Let's get out of here!" Gordon exclaimed. 


	8. In the Light of Darkness

The boys quickly climbed down into the tunnel the led from the clock tower to who knows where. Scott and Gordon where thankful that the shadow creature didn't follow them, but Virgil kept looking back and sighing sadly as if he were leaving a good friend or pet. Scott ushered Virgil on and they went through the tunnel as fast as possible, not even noticing the broken glass bottles that crunched under their boots.   
  
Reaching the end, Gordon climbed up the ladder first, followed by Virgil, then Scott. They stood there in slight disbelief at the sight of the school they had supposedly just left. When Gordon turned around to tell Scott that maybe they should go back, he noticed that there was no longer a door in the tower.  
  
"Ok, I'm thoroughly creeped out now," Gordon said under his breath as he fell in behind Scott and Virgil who were heading for the nearest door into the school.  
  
They walked in and noticed that besides the floors being redone in rusted chain link fence and the walls in rust and blood covered cement, the layout, as far as they could tell, was the same as the school they had just left. Hoping to be right, they made their way to what was the infirmary in the school in the hopes of finding their lost brother.  
  
"John? Is that you?" A female voice from a corner of the room asked as the boys entered.  
  
The boys stopped. "Tall blonde in a blue outfit, purple sash?" Gordon asked and the girl nodded.  
  
"You know John? Where is he? Is he okay?" Scott asked, leaving Virgil to Gordon who was trying to get him to sit down in a chair.  
  
"I don't know where he is. We came here and he went to check for any other people. He's been gone for a while now and I've been too scared to go out there very far by myself. How did you guys get here? Are you his brothers?"  
  
"Yes. We came through the tunnel in the school clock tower. Our brother Virgil," Scott said motioning to the brunette with the strange grin and vacant stare, "said he saw John enter the school. Unfortunately, I think he's starting to go mad in this place."  
  
"I don't blame him. I probably would too, if I wasn't so scared. By the way, my name's Cammy."  
  
Scott pointed over to Gordon, "The red-head's, Gordon and I'm, Scott. How long ago did you say John left?"  
  
"I don't know. Too long, in my opinion. We heard a sound upstairs, like someone walking around, and he went to check it out."  
  
"Hmm… Perhaps he's still upstairs. We'll go look for him," Scott said, motioning to Gordon that they were leaving.  
  
"Oh please don't leave me here alone! I'll go stark raving mad! Please! I can help you!" Cammy said, clutching Scott's arm.  
  
With a sigh, Scott nodded. If it wasn't for the fact that this simple rescue had turned into such a strange adventure, he probably would have said no, but the way things were, Scott figured that any normal human they found was in need of rescuing. Even themselves.  
  
"Thank you!" Cammy said, grabbing a small bag she had found and filled with medical supplies, and her piece of pipe. When questioned about the pipe, Cammy simply stated that is was for protection.  
  
With a shrug, Scott opened the door and they walked out into the silent hall. They headed to the left and came to a set of double doors. When they tried to open the doors, they found they were locked. Together they decided to go into the reception area and check the teacher's lounge to try and find a key. Instead they found another door. The wall was nothing but old, bare wood planks. On either side of the strange door with three black squares, dripping blood, hung a body. They seemed to be hanging in a metal frame by their necks, their arms folded in front of them, with skin stretched down to form what almost looked like wings. Cammy shuddered and held the pipe closer. Virgil walked up to one of the bodies and touched the feet. Gordon walked over to check the door, finding a small slot in the middle square where blood was dripping.   
  
"It looks like it needs a special kind of key card," Gordon stated, pulling back his hand and flinging the blood onto the ground.  
  
Scott sighed. "Well it looks like we go the other way."  
  
"Why don't we just cut through the courtyard?" Cammy asked as the boys looked over the map Gordon had pulled out.  
  
"Why? There's a stair case right down the hall," Gordon asked, pointing to the map.  
  
"I tried. There's a fence blocking the way," Cammy said.  
  
"What about the classrooms? Isn't there a way to the stairs through one of them?" Scott asked.  
  
Cammy shuddered. "I went into one… There were these strange children. A lot of them. They… They tried to kill me."  
  
"Guess it's the courtyard then. I certainly don't want to have to face more of those strange demon children," Gordon said, feeling a chill run up his spine.  
  
"Very well. Through the courtyard then," Scott said.  
  
Virgil, after being forcefully drug away from the hanging bodies, began to hum and even skip a couple of times as the group crossed the courtyard. Cammy was surprised that the strange symbol that was on the ground before was now gone, but said nothing. She stuck close to the boys and as Virgil continued to hum, she recognized it as the children's song, "Where, Oh Where Has My Poor Dog Gone?" She thought it strangely appropriate, but kept the thought to herself.  
  
They went into the school only to be met by three of the strange zombie children stumbling towards them. Pushing Virgil as fast as possible, they ran through the set of double doors they found to their left. They slammed the doors shut behind them and waited to hear if the little creatures were going to try and come through the door. After several minutes of silence, they began to look around the hall. Virgil walked over and picked something up that was lying on the floor near a door.   
  
"Whatcha got there, Virg?" Gordon asked as he walked over. Virgil wouldn't give him the object, but Gordon could see what it was just fine. It was a watch, but not just any watch. Gordon recognized it as one of only a few. It was a wrist communicator just like his, which could only mean one thing - John had been here.  
  
"Scott, come look at this! Virgil found John's communicator!"  
  
Scott walked over and looked at it. Sure enough, it was John's. The boys began to get excited when suddenly the watch began to emit static.   
  
"Something's coming…," Cammy said, looking down the dark hallway.  
  
"How do…?" Scott started.  
  
"No time! Inside, quick!" Cammy said, pushing everyone towards the door.  
  
Everyone got inside the room and Cammy quickly closed the door, sighing in relief.  
  
"What was that all about?" Gordon asked.  
  
Cammy pointed towards the communicator that had now gone silent. "John told me about his watch. He said that whenever there's static, it means that something's coming. The closer the thing, the louder the static until it almost sounds like it's whining." Cammy looked at the ground. "John used it as a warning to keep us out of danger."  
  
Scott snapped his fingers. "Now it makes sense!"  
  
Gordon and Cammy looked at him confused, while Virgil just stood there and started to pet the watch.  
  
"Remember what that girl Sam had said when we first met her? About that guy Mason's death? Remember she said the guy had written something about a radio being the key? That's what he was talking about! It was his key to survival! Gordon, turn yours and Virgil's communicator on!"  
  
Gordon looked at Scott dubiously, but did as he said. When Scott turned to tell Cammy to take John's communicator, he stopped. They had been so wrapped up in escape and discovery that they hadn't even looked at the room they were in.   
  
Cammy stood over by a large table with six blue phones on it. Cammy was putting the receiver down to one of the phones and moved on to the next, trying each for a ring tone, each time being met with silence. She quietly returned to the group and shook her head. Scott took John's watch from Virgil, who protested slightly, and gave it to Cammy.  
  
"Here. In case we get split up, you'll need some sort of protection," Scott said. She nodded and whispered a thank you.  
  
"Well, now that we have an early warning system, I think we can safely avoid whatever's out there. I suggest we get going," Virgil said, throwing everyone into a small state of shock.  
  
"Yes, sir!" Gordon said happily; glad to have his brother back.  
  
They all started for the door when one of the phones rang. The sound echoed off the bare walls and sounded so eerily cheery in this strange place. Scott, who was the closest to the table, slowly walked over and found the phone that was ringing. Shaking, he picked up the receiver.  
  
"H-hello?" he asked.  
  
The voice on the other end was humming a song loud enough for all in the room to hear, reminding Cammy of the song that Virgil was humming earlier and made Gordon shudder.  
  
"Who is this?" Scott demanded.  
  
The voice stopped humming and then began to sing.  
  
Where, oh where has my Johnny-boy gone?  
Where, oh where could he be?  
With his hair cut short and his blue suit on,  
Where, oh where could he be?  
  
Scott slammed down the receiver, nearly breaking the phone.  
  
"Scott that sounded like…." Gordon began.  
  
"Don't say it! Don't even think it! It can't be her! It's just a cruel joke somebody is playing. It can't be her. It's been almost twenty years since…" A deep sadness filled Scott's voice and Gordon walked over and put his arm around his brother.  
  
"I know, I know. Maybe it is just a joke. Maybe it's just this place messing with us, trying to make us lose faith in finding John and in each other. Either way, think about it like this. Whomever it was just gave us a clue that John is somewhere around here. All we have to do is find him."  
  
Scott nodded and was about to say something when Cammy suddenly asked what happened to Virgil. Quickly looking around and not finding him anywhere, everyone rushed out into the hallway and stopped short. There was Virgil, skipping and jumping merrily over two giant cockroaches. As Virgil landed near one, the other would lunge at him to try and bite him, succeeding only in irritating the other. As Virgil continued to do this, he began to sing.  
  
Sing a song of knife ends, a pocket full of lye.  
Four and twenty black birds naming who will die.  
When the graves are opened, the birds again will scream.  
Isn't that a deadly wish passed on by your Queen?  
  
At the end of the song, Virgil jumped out of the way as one roach bowled the other over and they started fighting. Seeing their opportunity, the others grabbed Virgil and ran up the stairs.   
  
Rounding the corner and walking into the hall from the stairs, all their watches began to emit static. Taking up defensive postures protectively around Virgil who seemed to have slipped back into whatever strange world this place had sent his mind, the others waited to see what was heading for them. Soon their watches began to whine, but still nothing could be seen. Growing increasingly uneasy at the possibility of battling an invisible foe, everyone slowly tightened the small semi-circle around Virgil until he started giggling.  
  
Looking back at Virgil who was looking down, Scott followed his gaze and saw another one of those strange shadow children that was walking around Virgil earlier.   
  
"Shit!" Scott shouted and jumped away from the group. Gordon and Cammy turned and saw the strange shadow thing too, and ran backwards a little ways. It apparently wasn't hurting Virgil in any way, and none of them had certainly felt it, but it was very unsettling the way it walked around Virgil a little bit and walked through Virgil's legs, walking in a slow figure eight pattern. Cammy squatted down and poked at the thing with her pipe, but it only went through the creature. As everyone watched the shadow thing, they tuned out their communicators that started to whine a little louder.  
  
Cammy turned to ask Gordon a question when something white caught her attention from the corner of her eye. Turning quickly and swinging her pipe, Cammy caught the small zombie that was walking up on them, square in the chest and sent it flying down the hall.  
  
"What was that?" Gordon asked as the thing disappeared into the darkness.  
  
"One of those dead kids," Cammy said then walked down the hall into the darkness, pipe raised.  
  
"Hey wait!" Gordon yelled after her then turned to his brother. "Come on Scott! We can't let her go alone!"  
  
Scott grabbed Virgil and ran after Gordon down the hall. Reaching the end of it they saw Cammy standing over the brutally beaten body of the little monster. As they walked closer, Cammy suddenly slumped to the ground on her knees. Running over, Gordon and Scott both asked if she was all right. All she could do was point to the wall at the end of the hall.  
  
Blood smeared the wall, ending in a mess of inner organs and mutilated bodies. If it wasn't for the small patches of white that didn't get coated in blood, it would have been hard to tell what creatures some of the pile of body parts and viscera had in it. But it wasn't the mass of inert and bloody forms that Cammy was pointing to. It was something that was sticking out from the pile of bodies. A badly torn purple sash stuck partway out of the mess. A small badge with a hand reaching out over the world with the letters IR was clearly visible, though splattered with blood.  
  
"John..." was all Scott said before falling in tears next to Cammy. 


	9. Chimes in the Dark

"I'm so sorry," Cammy said as Gordon knelt down and hugged Scott.  
  
The three of them sat in the silence for what seemed like a long time, broken only by the quiet crying of Scott. Virgil stood behind everyone, looking at the remains, sadness quickly passing over his face. He hunched over as if to cry, but started laughing instead, starting softly, and gradually growing in volume. Turning, everyone watched as Virgil's laughter changed to crying, then back to laughter again.   
  
"He's completely snapped," Cammy whispered as Virgil walked over to the remains.  
  
Virgil picked up the sash and held it at arms length laughing then holding it close as he cried.   
  
"Stop it. Stop it! STOP IT!!" Scott yelled as he stood up and confronted Virgil. When Virgil didn't stop, Scott punched him, sending him to the floor.   
  
Virgil just lay there in shock, still holding the sash in one hand and rubbing his jaw with the other.  
  
"You think this is funny? Huh? Well do you?" Scott screamed at Virgil, walking over to his fallen brother. He kicked Virgil a couple of times before Gordon pulled him back.  
  
"Scott, Virgil's sick! He…"   
  
"And John's dead! Dead, Gordon, dead!" Scott interrupted, fresh tears running down his face.  
  
"I know, Scott. I know. There's nothing we can do about that now. It's too late to save John, but it's not too late to save Virgil."  
  
"Don't you care at all? Don't you care that John, OUR brother, has been horribly killed?"  
  
Gordon sighed. "Yes, Scott, I do. It hurts me very much, but now is not the time to grieve. We're stuck in a creepy town where weird creatures are out to kill us. We have to get out. That should be our first priority. Once we're safely away from here, then we can properly grieve, but right now we need to be able to think clearly so that the rest of us don't end up like John."  
  
Cammy was helping Virgil up when Scott suddenly turned around and started walking away.   
  
"Let's go," he said, without looking back.  
  
Cammy and Gordon helped Virgil along while trying to keep Scott in sight. They went back down to the first floor and ran as quickly as possible out into the courtyard to avoid any more monstrosities. When they got there, they stopped. On the ground in the middle of the courtyard was the strange symbol Cammy and John had seen earlier. As they got closer to the symbol, the clock tower began to chime.  
  
Hearing a moan, Gordon turned just in time to see Cammy collapse onto the ground in a faint. As the clock tower chimed again, Scott fell, then Virgil. Gordon, in a panic, tried to think of what to do as he ran from one person to the next, trying to revive them. He heard the clock chime again and felt himself fall to the ground. He closed his eyes as a sudden urge to sleep overcame him. The last thing he thought he heard before passing out was John's voice saying it was going to be all right, and what sounded like an air raid siren in the background.  
  
*****  
  
"Are you awake?" a familiar voice said. Gordon groaned and held his head which was pounding like a bad hangover.  
  
"What happened? Where are we?" Gordon asked as he slowly opened his eyes. Grey light was filtering from outside through the dust and grime covered windows of the room. Getting help, he sat up and looked around. "Where am I?" he repeated.  
  
"We don't know yet," the voice said before coming into his line of sight. It was Scott with a very relieved look on his face.  
  
"Scott!" Gordon cried out happily. Scott walked over and hugged his brother. "Where's Virgil?"  
  
Scott pointed to the chair where Virgil was propped.  
  
"He's not…Is he?" Gordon asked.  
  
"No. He's fine. Just sleeping. He was awake and taking care of us when Cammy and I came to."  
  
"Where are we?" Gordon asked again, looking around.  
  
"School infirmary. Well, the not so creepy and dark school infirmary," Cammy said walking back into the room.  
  
Gordon got off the single bed in the room and just looked at her. "How did we get here?"  
  
"That's another part of this grand mystery. The last thing Cammy and I remember is walking out into the courtyard, hearing the clock tower then waking up here," Scott said, helping Gordon.  
  
"What about John? Surely it must have all been a bad dream…" Gordon stopped as Scott turned away and Cammy slowly shook her head and pointed to the windowsill where the remnant of John's blood splattered sash lay.  
  
Gordon bowed his head in sorrow and sighed. 'Poor John,' he thought. 'Kept up on Thunderbird 5 without much reprieve and when he gets a chance for a rescue it ends up killing him. I wish we could have spent more time together.'  
  
The three stayed there in silence, not knowing what to do or say when Virgil suddenly jumped up. He grabbed the piece of sash and headed for the door, surprising everyone.  
  
"Where are you going, Virg?" Scott asked, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder.  
  
"The hospital. John's hurt and needs our help. He's waiting for us in the hospital. We have to hurry!"  
  
Everyone just looked at each other, silently agreeing with their eyes what they thought all along – Virgil had finally completely snapped.  
  
"Virgil, we can't go to the hospital. John's dead. Don't you remember seeing what was left of him upstairs?" Gordon asked, his voice growing heavy with sadness at the memory.  
  
"But he's not dead! He escaped! He's alive! I know he is!" Virgil exclaimed.  
  
"Virg..." Scott started, but stopped as Virgil broke from his grasp and ran out into the hall.  
  
The others took off after him as he left the school and began running down the street. Scott was soon able to catch up to him and got into a scuffle as Virgil struggled to get away. Gordon arrived soon after and helped pull Virgil off and held him as Scott and Virgil glared at each other. Cammy came up behind Gordon and just stood there. Nobody said or did anything for what seemed the longest time, when Virgil wrenched an arm free from Gordon's grip and pointed at Scott.  
  
"You know John's not dead. You can feel it, I know you can."  
  
Scott just looked at him, then to Gordon who had looked away. Scott closed his eyes and slowly nodded. They all had a special connection with each other. Almost like an extra sense. And even with what could be considered overwhelming evidence against them, they could still feel that their brother was somehow alive. Hurt, but alive.   
  
"We have to get to the hospital. He's waiting for us there. I don't know how long he can stay hidden from the dark forces running amok, but we have to hurry, or next time he really will be gone," Virgil said calmly.  
  
Scott and Gordon just looked at each other.   
  
"I can take you to the hospital, if that's where you need to go," Cammy said quietly, reminding the boys of her presence. 


	10. Axes, Bats, and Alley Cats

The three young men followed Cammy as she tried to find her way to Old Silent Hill. They ran into several dead ends before having to take a detour through an alley between some houses and other buildings. As they went further down the alley, they walked closer together, the large puddles and splatters of blood on the walls and on the ground and piles of ravaged remains of whatever creatures sent chills up their spines and set them on edge. When they neared the end of the alley, their communicators began to emit static. They huddled in a defensive group, back-to-back, and waited for the unknown monstrosity to appear.

They didn't have to wait very long before they saw a strange looking cat walk out from behind a set of trash cans. It jumped up on the nearest one and just looked at them. They could tell it was a tabby by the black markings on its tan skin, though it was nearly furless and the markings looked more like tribal tattoos than something nature had graced the cat with. It was so thin you could count the number of vertebrae in its neck and the number of bones in its bushy, fur-tipped tail. It had huge paws with deadly looking claws flexing in and out as if anticipating an attack. It also had a huge head that, as they continued to stare at it, seemed to grow bigger as the cat began to grin. The cat's teeth were stained yellow with age, though bits of red, and what looked like small strings of whatever its last meal was stuck in between its teeth. Its eyes were bright yellow and gleamed almost as much as the gold ring it wore in its right ear. As they continued to stare at the cat as if in a trance, the sound of a radio whining began to pierce the air. Turning just in time, Virgil saw the shadow swoop down from the fog towards them.

"Get down!" Virgil yelled and knocked everyone forward, getting down just as the giant skinless vulture passed over head, grazing his right arm with the tip of its wing.

From their now prone position, they looked up and watched as the thing turned around and began heading back in their direction. Gordon, without even thinking, grabbed Cammy's piece of pipe right out of her hands and stood up like a baseball player up to bat. He waited and carefully measured the distance as the thing flew closer, then took a mighty swing, knocking the bird into a nearby wall with a horrifying crunch. As it slid down the wall, its wings continued to twitch its back broken but not yet dead. Gordon walked over to the fallen creature and began to beat it, making it an unrecognizable pile of goo, skin, and bones before Virgil had gone over and stopped him. Everyone had forgotten about the cat who had hopped over to the trash can closest to the group.

"Your kills from your anger shall feed me well this day," a strange male voice said.

Turning, everyone noticed the cat again, who was now staring at the mess and licking its lips.

"Did you say something?" Cammy asked, taking a step closer to the cat.

"Don't be silly. Cats can't talk," Virgil said.

"And the dead do not walk, yet there is proof of both," the cat replied, its grin getting wider.

Everyone just stared, not sure of what to say or do.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" the strange feline asked, chuckling hoarsely at its own bad joke.

"You're like, a Cheshire Cat, aren't you?" Cammy asked.

"What's a Cheshire Cat?" Gordon asked, clearly confused.

"You know, Alice in Wonderland. The Cheshire was Alice's guide, though he only spoke in riddles and at times was a real annoyance," Scott said. Virgil just looked at him, impressed that Scott had actually read such a story.

"If that is what you choose to call me, though you are no Alice, nor are there any white rabbits to chase," the cat purred.

"Well, Mr. Cheshire, if there are no rabbits to chase, then what brings you here?" Virgil asked. This was getting very interesting.

"All nightmares need some glimmer of hope, no?" the Cheshire twitched his tail and his eyes twinkled mischievously.

"So what we're experiencing now is nothing but a bad dream? You mean we could wake up at any point and find ourselves in our own beds at home?" Scott asked in disbelief.

The cat chuckled again. "If only it were that simple."

"Well, Chez, it was nice meeting you, but we must be going," Gordon stated and began walking off.

"Take me and I can show you the way to your brother."

Everyone stopped and stared at the cat, who was now licking his paw and rubbing it over the back of his ears, cleaning himself and acting like what he had said wasn't odd in anyway.

"What do you know of our brother?" Scott whispered.

"That he is alive, but barely. Lost in a hell, wandering alone..."

Scott picked up the cat, making him tense, before relaxing comfortably into his arms. "We're taking him."

Virgil and Gordon stammered and stuttered trying to think of reasons why not to take the cat with them, but in the end only sighed and nodded. They started off for the hospital again, the two boys and Cammy making a loose triangle around Scott as if to protect him and the cat. The Cheshire smiled and purred as Scott scratched it behind its ears, his gold eyes sparkling with mischief.

-------

"Hello? Is anyone here?" a male voice asked. His question echoed off the empty halls of the darkened hospital, which made him shudder at the thought of such solitude.

Finding an elevator during his fruitless search of the first floor, and crossing his fingers, John pressed the button marked with an arrow pointing up. To his relief, the doors opened, and he cautiously walked into the grimy, blood stained car. Hitting the 2nd floor button, John hummed to himself to keep the gloomy atmosphere from getting him down. He was in a hospital. Surely there would be someone here to help him with his wounds and maybe even with some spare clothes on hand. With that thought, he looked down at his uniform.

His sash had been ripped off back at the school, and blood stained most of the rest of the blue uniform. There were many rips in it as well where he had been injured. As the elevator came to a jarring halt on the 2nd floor, he winced as a fresh bolt of pain shot through his body. Grabbing his side, John made his way out of the elevator and to the double doors leading to the main hallway for the floor. He groaned out of frustration as he found the doors locked. Leaning against the door, John yelled for someone to open them. He could have sworn he heard a shuffling noise, but as he continued to call out, it stopped. Beginning to feel very tired from his efforts and from his wounds, John decided to head back to the elevator and try the next floor.

The 3rd floor offered the same barrier as the 2nd, and John began to feel hopelessness creep in. He sat down in a chair in the elevator lobby to rest, his body starting to throb with pain, dulling his senses and creating a ringing in his ears. As he sat there, he allowed himself to drift off to sleep. That's when he thought he heard something coming from upstairs.

'That's impossible... There's only three floors in this hospital...' he thought as the ringing in his ears died down, allowing him to hear the sounds of things being dropped from above. Taking a couple of deep breaths, John got himself up and went back to the elevator. He looked at the button panel, and did a double take. There, above the 3rd floor button was a button for the 4th floor. It was glowing in a reddish light that almost seemed to be pulsing. Thinking he had nothing to lose, John pressed the button.

The elevator made a nerve shattering screech and lurched twice, sending John into a panic, before it started moving up again. Closing his eyes and taking a couple of deep breaths to calm down from the fright, John didn't notice the elevator slowly changing in décor, getting darker and older looking, as it got to the fourth floor. When the car finally stopped, John nearly ran out, glad the ride was finally over. He instantly regretted it as the wound on his side and on one of his legs sent him to the floor, clutching them in pain. He laughed quietly at himself for being such an idiot and took the time to take a short nap and rest up while he was lying on the floor. A loud crash woke him from his much needed rest, and knowing he needed medical attention, he got himself up, groaning in pain as he struggled to a standing position.

Looking around, John noticed it was quickly getting very dark. Feeling his pockets for the small flashlight, he found his pockets empty. He then remember he had dropped it when it stopped working somewhere back at the school. Starting to feel helpless again, John looked around the room. It wasn't until he glanced back at the vending machines again that he noticed a small red marquee on a dispensable camera vending machine with the message, "Pictures last longer than you will. Take them while you can."

Using the pocket knife he kept in his boot, John quickly unlocked the door to the vending machine, and using the last bits of light to find a bag, grabbed as many of the cameras as he could. He opened them all and made sure each was ready for taking pictures. As the darkness finally enveloped him, he took out the first of the cameras and turned on the flash. 'If nothing else, I'll have pictures of some cute nurses,' John thought to himself as he walked back in the direction of the doors. Running into them, he prepared himself, camera and bag in one hand, gun in the other. Taking a deep breath, he opened the doors and pressed the shutter button on the camera. The image the flash illuminated was enough to send chills all through John.

Aged walls covered in splatters of black and red. Metal grid and concrete floors covered in who knows what, and as John listened, there was the sound of shuffling again.

"Hello? Is there anyone here? My name's John and I need medical help," he called out, carefully taking a couple of steps forward. The shuffling stopped briefly as if the person was listening then started up again. John wound the camera and used it again to light the hallway up and walked a few more steps forward. He noticed the shuffling was slowly getting closer. John suddenly felt like a ghost had just passed through him and shuddered. He took a quick look behind him, noticing that the ten or so steps he had taken was enough to hide the door in darkness. Shuddering again, he took a deep breath and was about to take a couple more steps forward when he heard the sound of metal scraping against metal. Taking the echoing of the empty hall into affect, John aimed his gun where he thought the origin of the noise was.

Silence and the echoing of the scraping metal began to get John as he stood there in the middle of the hall. Closing his eyes and mouthing a quick prayer, he clicked the shutter button on the camera to see what was making the noise. The flash illuminated a nurse slumped over and dragging what looked like a fireman's axe coming around a corner near the end of the hall. Getting an odd feeling about the nurse, John used the camera's flash again to light up what was in front of him. The figure stopped as the flash faded and John saw what made him feel uneasy. The nurse's dress was splattered with red and the axe head seemed to be as well. As John took another picture, the nurse looked up at him and hissed. As the flash died this time, John could hear her run towards him. Aiming blindly into the darkness, John fired his handgun in the direction he last saw her. He counted his rounds carefully and after the fifth, he pulled up the camera and took another picture only to find the nurse standing no more than a couple of feet in front of him. John quickly fired a shot point blank and stood there panting as he heard the dull thud of the nurse as she dropped to the floor.

Though the image was brief, John saw enough to know that picture would stay in his mind forever. The nurse's face was a pale yellow, splattered with blood. Her teeth were like metallic fangs that glistened as saliva dripped off them in the light of the flash. Her eyes were a dark red and looked like they were still bleeding, her hair in disarray. There was anger and hunger in that look that almost completely froze John.

Recovering from what he saw, John suddenly remembered what looked like an outline of a door at the end of the hall just past the nurse. Carefully making his way to the door he went in. To his surprise, the room was filled with a red light that illuminated a gurney with broken straps, a bird cage, and a broken window. John walked over to the window, passing the bird cage and accidentally bumping it. There was a flutter of wings from inside the cage that made John jump. Moving in closer to check and make sure the bird was all right, John found nothing but a couple of feathers and some dried blood on the floor of the cage. Thinking it his imagination, John turned back towards the window and took another step forward, the sound of wings fluttering coming from the empty cage again. Doing his best to ignore it, he walked to the window and looked out, sighing and shaking his head. There was nothing but darkness outside the window. No lights or anything to suggest that the building wasn't floating in some weird and twisted dimension. Or dream.

John walked back to the door, carefully skirting the apparently haunted cage, and put his ear to the door. He listened for any sort of movement while losing himself deep in the thought of all this being a bad dream. He was brought suddenly out of his thinking by the sound of glass breaking in the window behind him. Quickly turning, gun at the ready, John made a quick scan of the room to see if anything had come in. After seeing nothing new in the room, John checked the window and noticed that it hadn't changed. Not even one of the loose hanging fangs of glass had fallen. Curling up in the corner nearest the door, John closed his eyes, rocking slowly and holding his head, muttering, "It's all a bad dream. It's not real. It's just a bad dream."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to the Cheshire Cat. Those belong to Louis Carrol, American McGee, and EA Games.

Note: Yes I know it's taken a while for me to get back into righting. Sorry about that. Real life takes priority. With winter swiftly approaching and the death of the season bringing new ideas and twists, I shall try and get a couple more chapters written up and posted. And remember, read and review. The more reviews I get, the more inspired I am to write. - Duette


	11. Hospital Hospitality

Reaching Old Silent Hill, the small group stopped long enough for Cammy to get her bearings before starting off again for the hospital. The cat had fallen asleep in Scott's arms and as Scott would begin to wonder why he was still carrying the cat, a mysterious voice in the back of his head kept telling him it was for John. Whenever they encountered something, if Scott tried to put the cat down, he would feel the sharp caws of the cat digging into his skin. Though he hated cats and this one in particular was getting on his nerves, Scott never tried to purposefully hurt it. Mentally kicking himself for picking up the animal in the first place, Scott had to be content to just watch and hope for the best as the others battled their way to the hospital. 

When they finally made it, they quickly entered the building and rested on the nearest benches they could find. The cat slowly opened one eye, hopped out of Scott's arms, and stretched before smoothing down what little fur had been messed up from his perch. 

"Thanks for the ride. Perhaps we shall meet again," the cat said before walking around a corner. 

"Hey! I thought you were going to help us find John!" Gordon yelled and ran after the cat, only to find it had disappeared. 

"He's easy to find," the cat's voice seemed to echo all around. "Call to him and bring life back into the darkness." 

"Come back here you cowardly feline!" Gordon shouted at the ceiling. 

There was a hoarse laughing that suddenly filled the area and slowly died with the voice echoing the words, "Call him." ----- 

John waited just inside the nurse's station, watching from one side of the small window in the door; the only thing separating him from the two zombie nurses outside. As one got closer, he closed his eyes then pushed the door open with all his weight, slamming it into the one nurse and coming down on the other with the fireman's axe he had gotten. As the second nurse fell, he whirled and came down on the first one, cutting off her arm as she was trying to pull herself up by the door. Two more swings later and the nurse just lay there. Exhausted from so much effort and pain starting to get to him, John carefully made his way to the nearest patient room. 

He closed the door, taking a moment to look around for something to barricade it with. Other than a blood stained gurney and an old chair, he found a TV on a slightly rusted looking pushcart. Moving the TV just right to block the door, John collapsed into the chair, closing his eyes and relaxing as much as he could in this hospital of horrors. As he sat there, he saw a bit of light playing off to his side. Looking, he saw the TV was on. Checking the room for outlets, he noticed that the TV wasn't plugged in. John had seen enough horror movie to know that typically whenever a TV came on by itself, it was never for the better. Still, there was something about the silent static that entranced him. He moved closer and as he watched, eventually sitting cross-legged, like a little kid watching Saturday morning cartoons, he thought he could pick out voices. He reached out and pressed the volume button to listen to the static. What he heard though was not static. ----- 

Scott and Gordon stood in the administrator's room, talking over a map of the hospital that was on the wall, making special notes about the U-shape of the building and the access points of all the floors. As Scott and Gordon talked, Virgil and Cammy had gone to the vending machines by the elevator to try and scavenge something remotely edible. The two boys were so deep in conversation that it took a few minutes for them to hear Virgil's voice, shouting to them. Running from the room, guns at the ready, the started down the hall, but were stopped by the image they saw. 

In between the two groups there was a nurse... A very familiar looking nurse. Only the last time Virgil, Scott, or Gordon saw her, she wasn't a nurse. She was a field reporter doing a story on the strange cult happenings in Silent Hill. And she had mysteriously disappeared in the darkness of the sewers... ----- 

John listened to this meeting in the hallway on the little black and white television in shock. There were his brothers, all alive and well, and had to be close by. John continued to listen until the TV went to just static and then died. With a groan he got up, moved the TV out of the way of the door and listened. His brothers were here... They were alive... And there wasn't a damn thing that was going to keep him from rejoining them just as alive. ----- 

"Sam?" Virgil asked. "What happened to you? Where'd you go? We were worried when you disappeared."

"I..." she looked at Virgil then slowly turned and looked at the others, stopping on Cammy. "You..." 

Cammy looked questioningly at this strange woman. She was about to ask something and stopped as Sam took a step forward. She held out a hand and seemed to lurch forward. "You're the one..." she said as Cammy took a step back. Sam continued lurching towards her and seemed to, from nowhere, start bleeding from her head. Then her nose, eyes, mouth... It was as if she were almost sweating blood. The boys stood there in shock and horror, unsure of what to do. When Cammy could back up no longer, she brought her fists up, ready to strike, when Sam just collapsed onto the floor in a pool of blood. Cammy walked up and gingerly tapped the body with her foot before running into Gordon's outstretched arms. 

"What just happened?" asked Scott as Virgil gently rolled the body over. 

"I don't know... But what did she mean by 'you're the one'?" Virgil looked up at Cammy. 

"How should I know? I don't even know who she is, much less how I could be..." Cammy looked at the ground in thought then suddenly turned and walked away. 

"Hey! Don't go anywhere alone! We have to...! Cammy!" Gordon shouted after her as she ran into the stairwell. He soon lost sight of her as she ran upstairs. He could hear his brothers behind him, and when he turned, he jumped in surprise. What he thought was his brothers' footsteps were actually the footsteps of two doctors. 

"H-hello doctors. I know this looks kinda odd, but..." Gordon was cut off as one of the doctors slashed at him with a scalpel. "Hey! Watch it! What're you..." 

One of the doctors looked up at him and his jaw dropped. The doctor was bleeding from eyes that appeared to be dark red. As Gordon backed away up the stairs, the doctor let out a horrid screech, echoed by his companion, and what seemed to be the building itself. 

"Oh shit..." Gordon muttered and turned to run up the stairs. 


	12. If Walls Could Scream

John made his way to the stairwell after making sure any remaining spooks were taken care of. As he made his way to the stairwell he thought he heard the scream of a little girl from below. Moving as fast as he could, John ran down the stairs and burst through the doors. The darkness was again, too much to penetrate with his eyes. Taking out another camera, he took another picture. The sight the flash brought out froze his blood. Only one thought crossed his mind at this point: He had found the children's ward. ----- 

Not far behind Gordon, Scott and Virgil saw the encounter with the doctors. They tried to yell to Gordon that they were on their way, but he didn't hear and soon vanished around the bend in the stairwell. The doctors, finding their original quarry gone, turned to face the remaining two. After a brief battle, the brothers dispatched the undead then hurried to catch up with Gordon. ----- 

Gordon ran into the second floor corridor and skidded to a halt, almost slipping on the damp floor. There was a faint red glow coming from an emergency light. In the glow of this light, Gordon could swear he saw shadows moving. Strange, almost child shaped shadows that made him both shudder and relax slightly. The other shadow children he had encountered didn't seem to bother anyone. Deciding to take this as a good omen, Gordon began searching the patient rooms for Cammy, not noticing the dagger-like shadows that the children began to raise behind him. ----- 

Scott and Virgil got to the second floor just as the door to the stairwell closed. Try as they might though, they could not get it open. Screaming in frustration, Virgil took to the stairs again, back to the first floor. Scott stayed on his heels as Virgil made his way to the elevator. Getting in, Virgil hit the button for the second floor, but nothing happened. Banging the control panel in anger, Virgil managed to hit the button for the third floor and the elevator began moving. Virgil began to cackle almost madly and Scott made a silent prayer in the hopes things would turn out for the better. ----- 

John took another picture just to make sure he was seeing things right. He shuddered again as the flash illuminated the grisly scene again. Bodies hung from the ceiling and on the walls from chains and hooks. Some looked as if they had bites taken out of them while others looked to have been slashed horribly. Gingerly, John reached out and touched the arm of the nearest victim. It groaned and moved, sending John into a panic. He took a picture of the body and screamed, slipping and falling on the ground in terror. 

The body of the child, too disfigured to distinguish sex, had pulled against its chains. There was nothing but darkness where the eyes should have been. Where the body was attached to chains, John saw some of the flesh rip as the figure struggled to reach out for him. There was something about the face that terrified John more than anything else. There was no mouth. It looked like a smooth piece of flesh where the mouth should have been. And yet this same piece of flesh seemed to be ripping apart as the child attempted to open its mouth. 

John lay on the floor breathing heavily and groaning slightly as his wounds began throbbing in pain. Not sure if he had enough strength to stand up, and not want to use any of the bodies for support, he began dragging himself along the metal girder floor. John made it almost to the elevator lobby when he ran into someone's leg. Reaching out, he could feel a boot. John felt the muscles in the ankle tense and rolled to his left just in time to barely miss having his head bashed by something metallic, the clanging of it making his ears ring as it hit the floor. Using the camera, he lay there a moment as panic turned to recognition. He took another picture just to be sure and barely rolled out of the way again as the pipe came down towards him. 

"Cammy! It's me John!" 

He could hear her breathing alter as she hesitated, momentarily unsure. He slowly tried to push himself up to a kneeling position when he suddenly heard a scream and everything went black. ----- 

Gordon screamed at the creatures outside the door as they scraped at the last place they saw their victim go. Gordon sat in a corner of the room nursing his right thigh. Using the already blood stained sheets of a bed in the room, Gordon tried to take care of the nasty cut one of the shadow children had given him. He kept mumbling about how he should have been nicer to the ones back at the school and how this was some sort of revenge. In pain, locked alone in a room surrounded by hostile creatures, and no sure way of escape, he did the only thing he could do. He called for help. ----- 

Virgil and Scott made their way as fast and cautiously as possible across the third floor, checking every room they came to. They only took brief glances at the fallen nurses they passed as they made their way to the stair well. Taking the stairs two at a time they ran into the second floor hall, guns raised and flashlights blazing. They barely stopped in time to dodge the swinging arms of a child-like creature. Jumping to opposite sides of the hall, the two battled their way around the hall, checking room after room for Gordon. Pushing open the remains of a horribly slashed up door, Scott noticed empty shells littering the floor. Turning to tell Virgil, Scott found that his brother was gone and standing in his place was a bunch of mangled children slowly making their way towards him. 

------------------------------------------------

A/N: As everyone can see, I've not totally disappeared. Just takes a while for a bit of inspiration to hit lately. Anyhoo, I'd like to thank everyone who's bared with me thus far and to everyone reads and responds. Every response makes me want to work that much harder. And just for your amusement, here's a sneak peak as to what will happen next: 

Gordon, "No!" 

Scott, "What in the..?" 

Virgil, "Hee hee..." 

John, "Help..." 


	13. Demons or Angels?

Scott awoke on the floor of the hospital room, quickly sitting up, gun pointed at the door. It took a minute for him to realize that not only were the children gone, but that it was oddly lighter in the room. Looking around he noticed the grey light of day coming in through the slightly stained and cracked window. Getting up and brushing himself off, he looked around the room, noticing that the door was in one piece and the shells that once littered the floor were now gone.

Cautiously, Scott opened the door and looked outside. Other than looking horribly run down and old, there seemed to be nothing odd about the hallway. Gun at the ready, he made his way to the stairwell just as his communicator began to go off. Scott opened the door and shined his flashlight into the still dark stairwell, but saw nothing that would set his watch off. Puzzled, he held it up to his ear, his eyes becoming wide as he could barely make out Gordon's and Virgil's calls for help. Running into the stairwell, Scott almost tripped over something small and tan grinning up at him from the middle of the stairs.

"Out of my way cat!" Scott yelled at it as he made to jump over it. The cat just grinned, stretching up a paw with wicked looking claws displayed.

"I wouldn't go that way if I were you," the cat said calmly, yawning briefly.

"I don't have time for this! I need to find my brothers!"

"They're down a shaft, in darkness deep. Trapped there for all time, their blood will seep..."

"I don't have time for your cryptic messages! Now move or I'll shoot you!"

The cat just grinned at him, not moving any more than to curl up again. Scott growled and jumped over the feline, breaking through the door to the first floor. Knowing the only place that had not been searched was the basement, Scott tried to find an entrance leading there. Other than a door that seemed to be unnaturally stuck, Scott found nothing that would lead farther down. Frustrated, he threw a near by tray at the wall across from him and collapsed onto a bench, holding his head in his hands.

'First John, then Gordon, now Virgil... What have I done?' Scott thought, a tear rolling down his cheek. The thought of losing one brother was bad enough, but three... It was getting to be too much. Scott sighed and wiped his eyes, looking around. 'The only way to find them is to search, not sitting around feeling sorry for myself.' With new resolve, Scott stood up and began searching for clues on how to get down to the basement.

Passing the elevator lobby, Scott stopped, barely daring to breathe. Sam's body was no longer lying on the ground, but standing up. She was hunched over as if carrying a large weight, blood still covering her clothes, staring at the ground as if her whole upper body was limp. Scott cocked his gun, preparing for what he thought was the inevitable when Sam's arm shot out and pointed towards the elevator. Perplexed, with his back to the wall, Scott edged his way to the elevator and pushed the button. Nothing happened. Turning back to Sam, he jumped. Her body was back to lying on the ground in the pool of blood, exactly as it was, as if she'd never moved. Nervous beads of sweat began to appear on Scott's forehead and he pressed the elevator button again, this time getting an alarmingly cheery 'ding' from the bell as the door open to announce the car's arrival. Getting in, Scott took a deep breath and tried to slow his heart down as the car made its long way down.

Trying to form some plan for escape once he had his brothers back, Scott was thrown off guard when the elevator came to a jarring halt. As the doors opened, he could hear the unmistakable sound of metal grinding on metal. When he turned on his flashlight, he could see a giant, rusted looking fan blade slowly turning. Looking around he noticed that the nightmare world had returned once again.

Quietly he made his way out of the elevator lobby and down the hall, stopping briefly to check the rooms he passed for signs of his brothers. After several twists and turns, Scott realized his communicator was quietly hissing. Turning around to see what was around, he noticed that in a certain direction the noise got louder. Using this as a compass of sorts, he followed the static as it grew louder through the maze like halls of the basement. Eventually Scott found himself outside of a set of big metal double doors, the symbol of the circle and triangle painted on it in red. At least Scott hoped it was paint. He gently pushed opened one of the doors and looked inside. Scott couldn't see how big the room was from the lack of sufficient light, but the echoing of his footsteps was clue enough. He didn't take very long to ponder this though as his attention was brought very quickly to the center of the room where the only source of light was.

Four braziers marked the corners of a slightly raised platform. In the center of the platform was something that looked like a stone table of some sort with tubes leading from three sides to where three figures currently hung, bound in chains, slightly cupped objects connected to the tubes placed under each. A fourth figure was busy kneeling and mumbling in front of the table, which Scott suddenly realized was an altar of some sort. Scott took a few more steps into the room and discovered that the three figures in chains were his brothers, apparently unconscious, and for the most part, unhurt. Checking his footsteps, Scott made it almost to the platform when the figure suddenly rose up, arms outstretched.

"Oh great Samael! I summon thee!" the figure said, Scott recognizing him as the strange man named Tod. Tod moved over to where Gordon was hanging, and reaching to his side, pulled out a small knife. "From the sea of mortal blood a paradise shall rise!" Tod said as he made a large slash across Gordon's chest. Tod caught some of the blood as it began to seep out of the wound into a cup and moved over to Virgil.

Scott made to cock his gun, but found he couldn't move. He tried to pull his arm up but to no avail. He cried out to his brothers and for Tod to stop, but no voice came out. For the first time in his life Scott was completely and totally terrified and there wasn't anything he could do but watch.

"Untold beauty and peace shall flow over the land like the blood that it was washed with!" Tod continued, slashing Virgil, collecting some of his blood in the cup, and moved on to John. Scott couldn't swear to it, but whether it was from the flames or his own terror, he could swear he saw something move from the corner of his eye.

"From the death of the unclean, the unrighteous, and the undeserving, the innocents will rise forth and live in paradise for ever!" Tod slashed John, not just once like his brothers, but three times, creating a rough triangle in John's chest. John cried out briefly before falling silent again as his blood flowed into the awaiting catcher.

Tod took the cup with the blood of the three brothers and cut his palm, squeezing a bit of his own blood into the mixture. "Now, I summon thee, great Samael! As your vessel you shall bring about the end of this mortal world and bring paradise!" With that, Tod drank the mixture. Scott continued to watch, trying to figure out how much time his brothers had left before total blood loss took their lives.

Time continued to seem to stretch on. As the blood of his brothers reached the table, a sudden beam of light from the floor illuminated Tod. Grinning madly, he opened his arms to embrace it, his chuckles of happiness suddenly turning into screams of agony as his body was being torn apart from the inside, strange claws and even a wing could be identified as it ripped itself out. Within moments, what was a man now was a great demon. Its grossly elongated head was horned and the wings were almost bat like as the creature spread them, licking the remnants of its host off its hands. Turning to the three boys in chains it chuckled, a deep, evil rumble that echoed off the nearly empty room. Scott wanted to rush at the thing as it reached for Virgil, but found he was still frozen.

"Fool... Once I devour the souls of these innocents, nothing will stop me from destroying this pathetic mortal existence!"

From the corner of Scott's eye he saw the movement again, this time it was running towards the platform.

"Samael! I command you to stop and return to the hell from whence you came!" shouted a figure from the darkness. The demon paused and looked around him. Noticing Scott below, it grinned and let go of Virgil, taking a step towards the still frozen Scott.

"I said stop!" the voice repeated. The figure behind it took a step forward and Scott did a mental double-take.

It was Cammy. At least the face looked like Cammy's. The body however, was clad in scanty, leather straps, sharp bits of metal attached straight to exposed bone at the knees and elbows glinted faintly in the fire light. From her shoulders there was an apparatus that looked to be holding large flaps of skin backwards, making something to the effect of wings with metallic claw-like appendages sticking out at odd angles. Her head is what really caught his attention though as it appeared to be shaven and had what looked like a saw blade going through it. As Scott thought about it, she looked like a very grotesque and mangled version of some sort of angel.

Samael chuckled. "You cannot hurt me. You belong to me, tortured one. Or have you forgotten?" Samael twitched his fingers briefly, making the Cammy-angel twitch.

"You... No longer... Have full... Control!" She said through gritted teeth. Without warning a loud roar was heard and Samael was suddenly on the ground, a large cat-like creature, standing on his back. It looked similar to Cammy, with wings and saw blade "halo" to match, but the grin... Scott mentally snapped his fingers as he recognized the creature's brief grin.

Samael pushed himself off the ground, throwing the beast off him, and turned on it. Cammy flew after him, tackling him to the ground on the other side of the platform, knocking the table and a catcher off in the process. Scott watched in horror as a fight ensued between the three, the only thing going through his mind was that he needed to get his brothers out of there and pronto.

Snarls and growls could be heard in the darkness just beyond the firelight. He made an attempt to move again, this time finding himself able to. Without much hesitation, Scott ran up to his brothers, starting with John, and began to work to get them down. As he released each one, he carried them back to the door, keeping his eye on the fight. Taking Gordon back to where the other two lay, Scott was surprised to see Virgil awake and attempting to bandage wounds.

"Scott... What's going on? Where are we?" Virgil asked as he looked up from working on John.

"It's all right Virg. We're getting out of here. We just need help getting Gordon and John out," Scott said, putting Gordon down. There was a murmur beside him and Gordon opened his eyes.

"I can walk," he said weakly, looking down briefly at his wounds and groaning.

Scott looked back at where the fighting was taking place, watching as two figures slammed into the altar, cracking it and sending embers from a brazier flying. The remains from some sheet or curtain near by caught, lighting up a small area of the room.

"Fine. Virgil, you help Gordon and I'll carry John. We need to get out of here pronto," Scott said as he tore off his sash and used it as a bandage for Gordon.

Virgil took Gordon and braced him as they walked out of the room, Scott carrying John and leading the way. Sounds of the battle, roars of anger, peals of evil laughter, and the occasional loud bang followed them as they made their way as fast as possible down the corridors and back to the elevator. As they exited the elevator on the first floor, there came an explosion that rumbled as it made its way up the elevator shaft.

"Run!" Scott yelled just as flames engulfed the elevator car.

Virgil and Gordon hobbled as fast as they could, Scott lagging behind, keeping an eye on the flames and hurrying his brothers along. He noticed that the flames were engulfing the dry, aged walls like it was nothing. When they got outside they ran across the street, turning to watch as flames started appearing in the upper floor windows. As they caught their breath, Scott heard something on his communicator. Eyes wide, he ran back towards the hospital.

"Scott! Don't! Come back!" Gordon yelled, grimacing in pain.

"Cammy's still alive! I can save her!" Scott turned back to yell. As he approached the doors, another explosion occurred, blasting Scott several feet in the air and engulfing him in flames. Gordon and Virgil ran over to him only to find Scott unconscious and on fire. Taking what was left of their shirts off, they tried to beat the flames out, their exertion quickly making them light headed. Just as the last of the flames were put out, both boys collapsed next to their brother. The last thing either of them saw before passing out was a strange winged creature walking up to them and grinning as an air raid siren went off in the background. 


End file.
